Begin Again
by coldnovemberrain
Summary: When trying to discover the truth about her past, Penny meets a strange figure, and it might just be that they could be of more use to each other than they had thought. Bane/OC
1. Chapter 1

_It feels like one of those nights  
We ditch the whole scene  
It feels like one of those nights  
We won't be sleeping  
It feels like one of those nights  
You look like bad news I gotta have you, I gotta have you_

* * *

Penelope secured her soft auburn curls into a loose ponytail, making sure her hair won't get in the way tonight. Examining herself in the mirror, she quickly touched up her make-up. There were rumors going around that a record label executive would visit tonight, so it was obvious that Penny wanted to look her best.

"Are you ready, Pen?" her best friend Katie asked. Both of the girls where performers at their local bar. Dustin's Inn wasn't big, in fact it was notably small. Probably only a few dozen people could fit and that included the staff.

Penny let her eyes fall on Katie. Her best friend was wearing a tight black dress, leopard legging and high heels. Her dark brown hair was pulled up into a messy bun and her make-up was flawless. Even though some people might consider leopard print tacky, Katie pulled it off effortlessly.

Penny herself was wearing something more comfortable, her favorite jeans, a navy blue fancy top with an open back and her regular Converse shoes. For some reason she had never really felt comfortable in a dress, however jeans suited her just fine.

"Just give me two seconds!" Penny said as she turned back to the mirror to examine herself one last time. If the record label executive was really coming, this night could change her life…

"Pen, come on!" Katie urged after the two seconds passed. She was already waiting behind the coulisse to go on, clenching her fists every now and again nervously. Penny had to admit she was feeling kind of nervous herself.

She had never felt too comfortable in large crowds, always feeling intimidated by the people around her. The only place where she really felt comfortable was up on a stage. Even though there were people looking at her, when she was lost in the music she didn't notice even notice them anymore.

As quick as she could Penny hurried over to Katie. They waited for the barman to announce them before moving up the stage.

The bright spotlights blinded Penny for a moment, but she was grateful for them. They hid the audience for her, making it seem she was only performing for the people who were seated in the front row.

"It's packed!" Katie whispered under her smile as they walked over to their stools on the stage. When Penny's eyes adjusted to the light, her sight confirmed what Katie said, it was absolutely packed with people. Upon the sight of the huge crowd, a gush of insecurity and nerves went through Penny. She rapidly pushed the feeling away. _I can do this, it's just like any other night_, she told herself repeatedly.

Every night they performed had a special theme, tonight the theme was the 80s, much to Penny's despair. She rather enjoyed rock, alternative, just anything they could sing acoustic. Their voices sounded so good together when they sung with only a guitar to accompany them.

Luckily Penny calmed down just before the song was about to start. Softly she placed her stool just a few inches backwards, so the bright spotlight shone directly into her eyes. She liked it that way, it also gave some mysteriousness to who exactly she was singing to.

They started off with singing 'Billie Jean'. Penny knew this was one of Katie's favorite songs, so she decided to let her take the lead on this one. She would show that executive what she could do later on.

In total they had sung almost eight songs, switching between who did the lead and who did the background vocals. After they were done with the second song (Jessie's Girl), Penny really got comfortable and she felt really content with how she had sung tonight. It was the best she had ever sung.

"Awesome, Pen!" Katie high-fived her when they came backstage. Katie couldn't stop dancing to the music being played backstage, she also realized it went really well this night.

"Let's hope the executive liked it…" Penny replied, picking up a bottle of water and taking a gulp from it, slowly letting the water run through her system.

After she got hydrated again she sat down in front of her mirror. "Of course he liked us!" Katie said enthusiastically, making a couple spins behind Penny.

They had been best friends ever since high school. Penny had first laid eyes on her during their calculus class and soon became friends after. The fact that they both loved singing helped establishing their relationship even more. Katie was one of the few people who knew Penny's whole history, she was the only one who Penny really trusted.

Katie's enthusiasm rubbed off on Penny. The two of them were dancing like two teenagers who had gotten hold of alcohol for the first time. "We were so great!" Katie smiled.

Penny couldn't help but agree, they really were in their element tonight.

"Great job, ladies"

Penny stopped dancing to reply to her boss. Luke Dustin was the co-owner of the inn together with Adam Dustin. She wasn't sure exactly how they were related, but she did know she liked Luke a lot better than she liked Adam.

Luke was watching them in the doorway which let back to the bar. Penny couldn't help but wonder how long he had been watching them. He was wearing regular jeans topped off with a blue button-up blouse and sneakers. Like Adam, Luke's hair was also a shaggy blonde, which always styled like he just rolled out of bed.

"Thanks, Luke!" Penny said gratefully. She still couldn't get around the fact that she was actually good at something, still being surprised each time someone complimented her.

"What did the executive think?!" Katie stopped dancing and her eyes widened, eagerly waiting for an answer.

"Executive?" Luke replied, scrunching his eyebrows together. He folded his arms and rested against the doorpost.

"The record label executive?" Penny added, trying to make it a little bit more clear for him. He must know what they were talking about…

"I can't recall that there was an executive" he said, still deeply in thought trying to remember someone.

Penny's eyes met Katie, she could feel they were both thinking the same. This night could have changed their lives, they could've been signed to a label. They could've finally earned some real money and maybe even go to college. But apparently there was no executive.

"There had to be someone?" Penny could hear the disappointment in Katie's voice. She couldn't remember how long they had been waiting for a moment like this.

"There was no one" Luke shrugged, before returning to customers in the bar.

* * *

Penny returned to her apartment late that evening. Even though they were really disappointed about the revelation of the executive, they both still had to go on for a second set. The pay for singing in a bar was bad, but at least she was enjoyed herself while she was working.

Carefully Penny got a shoebox from under her bed. With her thumb she traced the letters which she had written on top: _College fund_. There was nothing she wanted to do more and go to college, get educated. Sadly the box's value was a little more than 500 dollars. It was hard saving money while you still had to make ends meet.

Penny placed the box back under her bed and walked over to the back of her small apartment. A few years ago she had finally saved enough money to rent her first home in the Narrows. It only had one bed and one bath but she didn't really need anything more. The kitchen was small and Penny didn't dare to use the tap in the bathroom, afraid it might break as it looked very wonky.

The one thing she had spent a lot of money on, was her laptop, her precious laptop. Still it wasn't something fancy like a Macbook Air, but it had cost her a lot of money. The computer contained everything she had worked for, information about herself, but most importantly her parents.

Penny never knew her parents, the only thing she had ever known was a foster home, well five foster homes to be exact. For some reason Penny could never connect to her foster parents, even though she was practically raised by them. They always wanted to get rid of her after a few years, after it turned out she wasn't going to connect and listen to them.

The one thing she did know that she was going to find her parents, she was going to find her real family. Find out why they had left her, and maybe even find some closure.

While waiting patiently for her laptop to start, she made herself some coffee. The research she was about to do tonight could take a while... Hacking into systems was not the most easy thing to be done.

* * *

**Author's Note**: So I decided to delete my first 'Penny and Bane' story and start over. I felt it was moving in the same direction as my other Bane fanfic. This story will take a different directing!

I really liked the name Penelope so I decided to name this OC also Penny, if you don't mind , lol. Next chapter will feature Bane, just consider this chapter more as a prologue!

Enjoy reading and hopefully I will see you next time!

_Song: 22 – Taylor Swift_


	2. Chapter 2

_If there's something left to be learned_

_Then my time is running_

_Why should I waste it all wasted on you?_

_I shouldn't be trusted to live and let go_

_When the last of my cities have burned_

_Then what's left in nothing_

_Why did i waste it all wasted on you?_

_I couldn't be trusted to live and let go_

* * *

Penny had been hacking all night. Making her way into databases, registers, you name it. But there had been no trace of her parents, none at all. She had hacked every known database she could think of, but all had lead to nothing. Even though Penny was excellent with computers, she had to give in to the fact that she wasn't a private detective.

Her parents had left her behind on the steps of a foster home. Penny remembered nothing from it, she had been only a year old. The people living in the home had taken care of her, nurtured her, but after a few years they gave her to another foster home, and after that another. Her whole life Penny had seen people come and go. It was the only thing she knew, and she was convinced it was the only thing she would ever know.

It proved to be a lot harder then she initially had expected. Tracing someone of whom you don't have any names, records seemed impossible. The only thing she did know was the state in which she had been born, Kentucky. Still that wasn't even known to be a fact, her second foster parents had told her that. Penny had to assume it was accurate, she didn't had any other lead.

Penny glanced at the clock hanging on the wall opposite of her. It was almost 6 am. She had been completely unaware that she had pulled an all-nighter. There seemed no point in going back to bed, she had to be back at the inn at 10 for rehearsals.

While yawning Penny made a cup of coffee for herself, she was going to need it. Her laptop was still scanning some files in the background which, according to the ETA, would be finished in three hours. Letting the laptop do his job and after she downed her second cup of coffee, Penny jumped under the shower, letting all her thoughts wash away, hoping for something to happen today. Something good.

The inn looked so peaceful when it was all empty. Walking in, Penny spotted Adam in the back taking an inventory of the liquor they still had left. Katie was already waiting for Penny, it seemed she already had some new theme ideas written down.

"Hey" Penny greeted. Even though she didn't really had the energy for this, she still tried thinking of new ideas.

While conversing about possible themes, Adam had walked over to them. Penny hated it when he started to interfere. He had the worst taste in music.

"I heard the executive liked you, yesterday" Adam said, sitting down on a chair opposite of them.

Adam was a lot smaller than Luke was. He was wearing black pants and a blue shirt with a print on it. He placed his elbows on the table, resting his head in his hands.

"What?" Katie asked, a confused look covering her face. Penny was also curious in what he meant, Luke had told them there was no executive…

"Well, he wasn't exactly an executive. I'm not sure what exactly he is, but he did like you. Especially you" Adam raised his head and pointed to Penny.

Not sure what to think of this, and how to reply, Penny just nodded. An awkward silence fell, indicating it was time for Adam to go. Neither Penny nor Katie liked him. Once he was gone back to the dressing rooms, Katie turned to Penny. "I wonder who that person was!" she said, her voice filled with hope again, hope of them getting signed.

"Me too" Penny mumbled. "Me too…"

Although something inside of her was telling her this wasn't to be trusted.

* * *

That night they decided to perform current hits, which was much more to Penny's taste. Amped up from the coffee and energy drink, she literary shined on the stage. While performing she couldn't help but wondering who the 'executive' was. She had tried to identify any of the faces in the room, but there was no one to be seen who looked like an executive.

She had to admit she had really enjoyed herself tonight, even after all the setbacks she had the previous day. Penny and Katie quickly got changed out of their costumes. They had decided to watch a movie back at Penny's place, both feeling really tired.

With her hand on the doorknob, ready to go, Penny turned her head around to see where Katie was. She was never the fasted, but this time changing out of her clothes took abnormally long. Impatient Penny turned around to go look for her.

"Kate, come on!" she shouted towards their changing rooms. The coffee was losing it's effectiveness and Penny wanted nothing more but to wrap herself in some blankets and watch cheesy movies.

No response.

Carefully Penny opened the door of their changing room, not sure what to expect. "Katie?" she asked again. This place was not big, where could she have possibly gone?

"Ah, Penny!" Adam was standing in the doorway, clearly out of breath. _Something was not right…_

"Did something happen to Katie!?" Penny immediately asked, expecting the worst.

Adam rested against the doorpost, trying to calm down his breathing. "I've been looking all over for you. There is someone who wants to meet you."

"Have you been running?" Penny furrowed her eyebrows.

"Yes, I have been running. Just go see him! He's not someone who you should let waiting" Adam said annoyed while he stepped aside to let Penny pass.

Penny passed him. "He's in the bar" he added. Something in the back of Penny's mind told her this could be the executive Adam had been talking about. Maybe Katie was already talking with him. But then again, Adam seemed somewhat scared? _I can't imagine anyone who would be afraid of a record company executive…_

Penny's heart rate started to increase once she stepped through the door in the bar. There was no one in the bar, even the staff had gone. Quickly Penny checked the watch on her wrist. It wasn't even past 12, they never close so early…

A gasp escaped Penny's mouth as her eyes glanced over one of the three men standing in the room. She had seen this man before. She had seen him many times before.

Penny blinked a couple of times to check of her eyes were telling the truth. The terrorist which she had seen often on the television was sitting on one of the chairs in the middle of the bar with two mercenaries standing behind him, heavily armed.

For a moment Penny couldn't take her eyes away from the mask. She had never seen a more intimidating mask, it covered more than half of it's face. The dark grey tubes made it look like a spider was crawling out of his mouth. The thought of it sent shivers down Penny's spine.

Quickly she looked around her to check if anyone was present, but she couldn't see anyone. Once she took a few careful steps forward she could see the man more clearly. _Bane_. She had seen him so often on the television, but she never actually thought she would ever meet him.

"Where is Katie?" Penny snapped, feeling concerned for her friend. "If she you hurt her…"

"Then what would you do exactly?" Bane's mechanical sounding voice made Penny's heart beat even faster. It sounded much more terrifying in real life than it did on the television. "We did not harm her. She was very cooperative."

"You did not answer my question" Penny crossed her arms in front of her chest, surprised by her own aggressiveness in her voice. _Don't say anything stupid_.

"She is safe. You sang phenomenally tonight, Penelope" Bane leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

Penny's eyes widened. "How do you know my name?" If there was one thing she had learned was never catch the attention of a terrorist. Unfortunately she just did.

"I know more about you than you might think" he replied. Penny could feel his eyes scanning over her body, examining every inch of her.

Finally her eyes caught Bane's. "What do you want from me?" she asked bluntly. Penny could hear the men behind Bane sniggering.

"That's none of your concern, right now. Just know that you won't be harmed as long as you cooperate. You must regard yourself very lucky. Not many people can grab my attention the way you did."

Penny didn't know what to reply. What she did know was that this wasn't good, not good at all. She still had her arms crossed in front of her body. Slowly she took a step back. If he was thinking she was going to go with him, he thought wrong.

"Don't be afraid, Penelope" Bane said while standing up from his chair.

_Don't be afraid!?_ Once Bane was standing Penny could finally see the immensity of him in person. He was about two feet taller than she was. His broad muscles covering every inch of his body. Penny had never seen someone quite like him before.

"What do you want from me?" she repeated, narrowing her eyes.

Slowly she took another step back, but it made no use. With every step she made, Bane made three. Before Penny knew it he was standing in front of her. His body only a few inches away from her body.

"Like I said, you will not be harmed if you cooperate. However if you don't…. That's a different story"

Penny could hear Bane's breathing from underneath his mask, it made a hissing sound. His breathing took her by surprise. For some reason she could never really believe that Bane was human. But sadly he wasn't some sort of an alien, it wasn't a dream. He was real, and he was standing right in front of her.

Even though she probably stood no chance against the three of them, Penny still decided to make a run for it. She couldn't go down without a fight.

As quick as she could, Penny turned around and headed for the door which went backstage. Adrenaline was now taking over her body. She couldn't even hear Bane and the two men coming after her.

To her surprise she made it backstage without getting caught. Because of the adrenaline rushing through her body it was hard to think straight. It took her just a bit too long to figure out where she was going next. The three men had already caught up on her.

As hard as she could she tried to slam the door in their faces and headed outside. Penny was shocked to find that the street which was normally pretty busy, was empty too. There were no cars, no bikes, nothing. She had to admit her escape plan was failing, there was no way she could ever outrun them.

"You are braver than your friend was"

_Shit._

"Brave, but mistaken" Bane added.

Without even hearing him approach her, he roughly grabbed her wrist and started dragging her into the alley next to the inn.

"Let me go" Penny tried to sound demanding, but also this was failing on her.

"I advise you to stop fighting. You know it's no use" Bane said. _Did I just hear amusement in his voice?_

"I can at least try" Penny snapped back, digging her nails into Bane's hands, trying to break free.

Bane finally stopped dragging her once they approached a black car. One of Bane's men opened the door while Bane himself pushed Penny in.

"This is against the law!" Penny screamed once she pulled herself up and sat down on the backseat. "You can't just kidnap me!"

"Who is going to stop me?" Bane replied, still amused. He seated himself next to her while the two men sat down in the front.

Bane had a point. Who was going to stop him? The law in Gotham was pretty much gone and to be frank she couldn't even remember the last time she had seen a cop.

With Bane besides her Penny didn't dare to do anything. Besides, the car looked bulletproof, so chances of escaping were slim.

"Why me?" Penny asked after a while, gently rubbing her sore wrist. The car had backed up out of the alley and driven away. Who knew where they were headed. "Why not any of the other girls in Gotham? I'm not special"

Penny could feel her heart skip a beat, while she waited for Bane to reply.

"And that is where you are mistaken, Penelope. You are special, you are in fact very curious to me."

* * *

**Author's Note: So this update took me a lot longer than expected, my apologies. I will try to update sooner the next time. Please let me know what you think!**

_Song: To Live and Let Go – All Time Low_


	3. Chapter 3

What did I do to deserve this?  
Tell me the truth and don't lie,  
You're pretty good at that, but no, not this time  
You walk around like you run the world

* * *

The drive to wherever the were going was awkward. After Bane's reply, Penny didn't dare to say anything else, afraid of what he might answer. She was not sure what he wanted with her, but something inside of her told her she would soon find out.

Penny rested her hands on her knees and pressed herself as far back in the chair as possible. She could feel her whole body stiffening from stress. Absent mindedly she stared outside, trying desperately to avoid eye contact with Bane. It seemed that they were not too bothered with blindfolding her. Penny tried her best to remember each and every landmark she could possibly spot, but she had never seen this road before.

After driving further for about a mile, the car abruptly came to a halt, causing Penny to launch forward since she had not secured herself with the car belt. Embarrassed she climbed back on the car seat. Bane softly chuckled.

"Where are we?" Penny said. Like the road, she had not seen this place before. The main building looked like a farmhouse. It had white paneling with soft pastel-yellow colored window shutters. Behind the house she could spot a large red barn, surrounded by a big piece of land. No animals were to be seen and Penny doubted if there actually were any.

"Home" Bane replied, opening his car door once it stopped.

The farmhouse looked like a whole different world when you compared it to the metropolitan city of Gotham. There was not paving on the ground, just sand and grass which was completely worn by all the vehicles which had run over it.

Penny remained seated in the car, she wasn't very eager to get out. Bane had already moved out of the car and headed towards the house. The guy who was driving opened the door for her and waited until she got out.

"I don't have a home" she mumbled to herself. Softly placing her feet on the grass, Penny got out of the car. The fresh air filled her lungs while the rays of the sun warmed her skin. Penny had lived on a farm before. It was with her third foster family. They taught her how to take care of the animals and how to ride a horse. She doubted if she was here to tend the animals…

The men escorted her to the house, showing her the room in which she would be staying at. "Don't try to escape" One of the men smirked before they left her in the room. Penny could hear the lock inside the door turning. "Great" she mumbled to herself.

The room itself wasn't too bad. It was just as big as the bedroom in her old apartment. Her own bedroom however didn't have an en-suite, this room did. The walls of her new bedroom were roughly plastered and the floor was covered with dark wood, which looked very worn. There was a bed in the right corner of the room and a small bed stand next to it. Apart from that there was only a cabinet and a fireplace in the room. The fireplace itself looked like it hadn't been used for years and Penny doubted whether it was safe to use.

Her first instinct was the check the windows. Just like the door, they were locked. Penny gently tapped the glass with her knuckles. It was old glass and would break easily. However the sound of breaking glass would be loud.

Penny took a quick glance at the bathroom, which was fairly simple. Just a toilet, a sink and an old shower. To her surprise she saw that there was already a bathrobe and some towels waiting for her in the small cabinet across from the shower.

This sparked her curiosity. Penny walked back into the bedroom and opened the cabinet. It already contained some simple black tees and a pair of jeans. Besides that it also contained three books, which looked like they were as old as the farm was.

The fact that the cabinet was already filled with clothes and the bed was already made, scared Penny. It meant that they had been planning this for a longer time. She still wasn't sure what they wanted of her.

A loud knock on the door disrupted Penny from her thoughts. Not sure what the answer she just said: "Yes?". The lock inside the door and the door opened, revealing Bane in the doorway.

"Are you liking your new bedroom?" he asked, leaning against the doorway. Because of his height Bane barely fitted through the door.

Penny shrugged, taking another look around the room. She already knew she would have a hard time sleeping tonight. Even though she had moved so often, she never really felt safe if she wasn't in her own bed.

"Have you lost your ability to speak?" Bane's menacing eyes pierced into Penny's.

"No, sorry" Penny immediately apologized. She didn't want to get on Bane's bad side. "I like it."

"Good" Bane nodded.

"There will be a guard outside your door day and night" He continued. Penny sat down on her bed. To her surprise the mattress was quite soft and bouncy, it was actually better than her own mattress at home. "Escaping is not an option".

_We'll see about that_. Penny already had multiple scenarios in her head. Most of which were doomed to fail, but she could at least try the ones that could be feasible.

"Could I get something to eat?" Penny had felt her stomach rumble multiple times already. To be honest she couldn't even remember when the last time was she had eaten.

"Please" she added carefully.

"I will let Barsad see to it" Bane replied. He took a few steps forward and sat down next to Penny on the bed. She could feel the bed sagging underneath the weight of Bane. Immediately she moved a couple of inches away from him. She still was afraid of him, the man who kidnapped her. Although she had to admit this wasn't a bad place and he hadn't hurt her. Something inside told her she should be very grateful that he had let her live.

"What do you want from me?" Penny repeated the same question she had asked over and over again, hoping this time she would get an answer.

"We have been watching you for quite a while now, Penelope" Bane started.

Penny raised her eyebrows. She had not noticed anyone following her lately. The fact that she had been stalked for at least a couple of days wasn't really reassuring.

"It is fascinating to see such a determined soul. Someone desperate to unravel the secrets of it's past. That is a rare quality."

"It's quite normal that you want to know what happened to you" Penny assured Bane while crossing her legs.

"You would think that, but through my life I have seldom met anyone as determined as you. It's curious"

Penny didn't find it curious. She found it perfectly normal behavior. She had been determined to find her real parents and she would never give up until she had found them. The thought of never finding out who her parents were was an unsettling one.

"It isn't" She snapped back. _Can't we just drop the topic?_ "You still didn't answer my question."

"If you stop interrupting me, I would have answered your question two minutes ago. We know you hacked into all known databases around the world. What you don't know is that there are other databases. Databases sheltered from the public eye, only known by a few people. If you help me, I will return the favor."

Penny ruffled her eyebrows, slowly taking in what Bane just said. She didn't know if he was bluffing, if there even were databases she didn't know about. But what she did know was that she wasn't going to help him.

"I'm not going to help a terrorist"

Their eyes met again. It seemed as if Bane's eyes got even colder with each second they had talked.

"Be careful what you say, Penelope. We do not like to be called terrorists."

"Then what are you?" Fear began to spread throughout her body again, upon hearing Bane's voice. Penny learned to cope with the fear, she had to get some answers. Especially since Bane mentioned the databases. _I have to know how to get a hold of them…_

"I'm Gotham's reckoning" Bane said, his voice now as cold as his eyes.

Penny decided to shut her mouth after that. She had angered him enough as it was, she wasn't planning on angering him even more.

Abruptly, Bane rose. "Think about my proposal" he told her, before walking towards the door and walking out, shutting it loudly behind him.

_Oh, I will_.

* * *

After an hour Penny could hear the lock in the door turning again. Penny quickly crawled under the sheets in her bed, afraid that it might be Bane expecting an answer from her. The fact was that she didn't had an answer yet.

She knew that she didn't really have a choice, but still she wanted to make her voice heard if she didn't wanted to do it. The chance of finding out who her parents were, was not an opportunity you got offered every day. Penny felt like she was at the end of an one-way street. She had searched every database, the internet, you name it. But everything let to nothing. The chance of finally getting some closure, finally getting the truth, was very tempting.

However every time she considered his proposal her conscience kicked in. _You can't help a terrorist_, it practically screamed at her. _Don't be selfish_.

The man called Barsad walked in the room, carrying a plate of food. His face was a lot gentler than Bane's. He had soft brown eyes which looked peaceful, instead of cold. The stubble covering his chin also made his face look softer. He wore black cargo pants and a black tee, perfectly blending in with the rest of Bane's men.

Barsad placed the plate on the bed and waited until Penny leaned forward to pull the plate towards her. The food wasn't special, but it was better than nothing. Her plate was covered with two pieces of bread, lightly spread with butter. The bread looked fresh and to be fair, all food was a welcome sight.

"I also got you some water" Barsad said, somewhat smiling. Penny watched him uncomfortably as he moved closer to her to place to bottle of water on her bed stand.

"There is no need to be afraid of me" A real smile now covered his lips.

"I'll be the judge of that" Penny said, tearing a chunk from her bread and slowly putting it in her mouth.

Barsad chuckled. "I like your spirit, but be careful what you say. Not everyone will take it as I just did"

Penny nodded. "Thank you for the food" she said politely.

She realized how lucky she actually was. Penny didn't think Bane let a lot of people live, still she didn't know what was scarier, the fact that he let her live or that he probably had killed people every day of his existence.

"You are welcome" Barsad replied. "I've also been given the instructions to tell you to change in the clothes provided and be ready in about half an hour"

"For what?" Penny said, before realizing she snapped at him again.

Barsad raised his eyebrows, surprised at her feistiness. "You will soon find out".

* * *

**Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the reviews! I'm going to be so busy the upcoming weeks, but I promise to write and post something as often as I can.**

_Song: Back Around – Demi Lovato_


	4. Chapter 4

It didn't take Penny half an hour to change. As soon as Barsad had left, she had quickly pulled on the jeans and a black tee which she had found in the cabinet earlier. To her surprise the clothes had fitted her perfectly, although it made her wonder how they knew what size clothing she wore.

Figuring she still had about fifteen minutes left, Penny turned to the books. Without bothering to look what kind of books they were, Penny picked up the first one that met her eye. Clutching the book tightly, she sat back down on her bed, making herself comfortable. Her fingers rubbed the book cover before opening it to take in the smell of the book. Penny's earlier thoughts were confirmed by the smell, the book was indeed very old. Closing the book again, she had a look at the title. _'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'_ the cover read. Intrigued, Penny opened the book. She had heard a lot about this book while she was in school, but she never got the chance to read it.

Penny hadn't even heard the door opening. She had read the first chapter and had to admit that the book was a welcome distraction. "Let's go" Barsad said, checking if she was wearing the clothing they provided for her.

Placing her book on the bed, Penny stood up. "Where are we going?" she asked, following Barsad out of her room.

"Gotham" he replied. He held the door leading outside open. Penny quickly went through it and let her eyes adjust to the harsh sunlight.

She hadn't exactly told Bane her answer to his proposal, but she figured he wasn't someone who you just could say no to.

Once her eyes adjusted she let her eyes fall on the vehicles which were parked in front of the farm. "I can't ride a motorcycle" she whispered to Barsad. The bikes looked fast and way too powerful for someone who had never ridden a motorcycle.

"Don't worry" Barsad smiled, handing her a helmet. "You get to ride with Bane"

Even though there were about five men on motorcycles, all wearing the same clothes and helmets, Penny could spot Bane easily. He was standing in the middle, waiting impatiently besides his motorcycle. His broad physique set him easily apart from the rest of his men.

Penny swallowed before walking over towards Bane, putting on her helmet while she walked. Even though she wasn't sure why he was bringing her to wherever they were going to go, Penny couldn't help but telling Bane what was bugging her. "If I'm going to help you, you have to help me" she said through her helmet.

"Let's first see if you are of any help in the first place" Bane replied while swinging his leg over the bike, waiting for Penny to also climb onto it. Nervously she also swung her leg over the bike, seating herself right behind Bane. Initially she didn't want to hang onto him, but figuring she would fall of she would just hang onto the bike, she swung her arms around him and entwined her hands together. She could feel her heart beat in her chest while Bane drove off aggressively, causing Penny to slide closer to him. Desperately she tried to make some space between them, but it was of no use. The speed with which Bane drove was way too fast. However for some unexplainable reason Penny felt somewhat safe pressed close to Bane. She quickly pushed that thought away, reminding herself this was the man how kidnapped her and locked her inside a room.

They came to a halt in downtown Gotham. Bane allowed Penny to climb off first, before swinging his leg over the bike himself. Penny removed her helmet and took in the surroundings. There were not any particular buildings around her except the stock-exchange. She knew that's what they were heading for.

Penny was right. Bane started walking towards the stock exchange, unlike Penny, he did not remove his helmet. Guessing she had to follow him, Penny walked in the same direction. The rest of the men followed behind her.

Bane halted and waited for Penny to catch up. "Go inside and wait for me" he told her once their eyes met. "Whatever happens, do not leave". Penny nodded. He extended his arm, gesturing that Penny should go in first.

With the helmet under her arm, Penny walked over to the security desk. "Please empty your pockets" the security woman said. Penny smiled lightly before patting her pockets to feel if anything was inside of it. To her surprise she did feel something in her right pocket. Carefully, Penny slipped her hand inside the pocket to retrieve her ID. _What the hell?_ Bane's thoroughness still surprised Penny, it seemed as if he had thought of everything. The woman quickly checked her ID before nodding that she could continue.

The room behind the security desk was in full commotion. Everyone was shouting and pointing towards the screens. Penny had no idea what was going on, she never knew much about stock exchanges. But something told her something surprising had just happened.

This would be the perfect time to escape, Penny suddenly realized. There were a lot of people here, she could easily go up into the crowd unnoticed. No one here knows her, it was so easy…

Out of nowhere gunshots appeared inside the room. Instinctively, Penny ducked, even though she knew who fired the shots. Now having removed his helmet, Bane appeared in the room. The power radiated from him, everyone in the room was intimidated by him and stayed down on the floor even though the gunshots had stopped.

Bane walked over to one of the main desks in the centre of the room. Penny let her eyes meet his and stood up, guessing this was were she was going to help him.

"This is a stock exchange, there is no money here" one helpless man said when Bane approached him.

"Then why are you people here?" Bane snapped back before banging the man's head on the desk and taking his ID card.

"Penelope, come here" Bane ordered. "You have to retrieve this from these computers." He handed her a piece of papers with some specifications and numbers written on it. Penny let her brain do the work for a moment, thinking about how exactly she was going to retrieve the information. The retrieving itself wouldn't be too difficult, but without a good internet connection it could take a while.

Penny sat down on the chair and let her eyes scan the computer for a moment. The computer looked different than she had at home. It had multiple screens and was hooked up to what seemed like some sort of tablet.

She took a deep breath before she began to type away on the keyboard. The computer worked the same as she was used to and the multiple screens actually came in quite handy.

"How long will it take?" Bane said, who was pacing behind her.

"Just a few minutes" Penny replied, keeping her eyes fixed on the computer.

Penny typed in the final code and a large pop-up appeared on the screen, letting her know the ETA was in under a minute. The pop-up also appeared on the tablet. Penny guessed that was the devices that Bane would take back with him.

Bane stopped pacing and looked at the screen over Penny's shoulder. He didn't say anything, but Penny could feel that she had done a good job. A small smile appeared on her face, the satisfaction felt really good.

The satisfaction was short lived. Out of nowhere the ETA changed from under 30 seconds to 10 minutes. The smile that covered Penny's face just a moment ago changed into a frown. Immediately she began typing away, trying to discover what had caused the delay.

"The internet connection seems to be blocked" Penny said, still trying to somehow speed up the download.

"You are surrounded. If you do not come up, we are coming in!" The voice came from outside.

_The police_. Penny started panicking. Maybe she could still get the download ready before the police got in, but then again Bane only brought five men, they could never take on a large police force.

The people in the room sighed hopeful, they knew their rescue had arrived.

Bane knew it too.

"Can you speed up the download?" he asked Penny. His voice sounded as calm as always.

"I'm trying"

Before the ETA was under 8 minutes, the doors opened and Penny could hear the police entering. Still keeping her eyes fixed on the screen, Penny tried to speed up the download, but it was simply impossible without the right internet connection.

While still busy with typing, a large hand slipped on her waist, pulling her off the chair.

"We have to go" Bane urged, unplugging the tablet, trying to pull Penny behind him.

"No!" Penny replied, wiggling herself free. "I can still finish it!"

As quick as she could she plugged the tablet back in and began typing, it was as if she was typing for her life. Deep down she knew that she was typing for her life. The mission could not fail.

"Boss, we have to go" Barsad urged. He had already put on his helmet.

"Take Penelope. Don't let anything happen to her" Bane ordered before disappearing away into the crowd.

_I can't finish it_, Penny realized. The police must have cut down the internet connection in the whole region. She tried to log in on the Wi-Fi connection next doors, but there wasn't one. "I'm sorry, but I can't speed it up!" Penny apologized to Barsad.

Barsad clearly had no time for apologies. "Don't worry about it" he said while unplugging the tablet from the computer and taking Penny's hand. "We have to go."

Penny didn't know how they did it, but they maneuvered through the building towards the exit without getting shot. She could feel the bullets soaring past her ears, but not one of them had hit her. Once they reached the exit Penny saw more of the men, all holding someone hostage.

"Stay behind me" Barsad ordered, while handing Penny her helmet. She decided to pull it on, it might even give her some protection from all the bullets flying around.

Penny could not see Bane anywhere, he probably was already long gone. Barsad was now in command. He ordered the men to push the hostages outside first before going after them.

Penny followed Barsad as closely as she could. The hostages provided for protection as the police did not shoot them when they came outside. As soon as the daylight hit her face, Penny was pulled on the back of the motorcycle. She wrapped her arms around Barsad and hold him as tightly as she could. She had survived so far and wasn't intending to die by falling off the motor cycle.

Barsad fired up the engine and burst through the crowd, the rest of the men following him closely. The sirens of the police cars were blaring behind them as they drove away.

* * *

Penny had never imagined she would be so happy to see her bedroom again. They had shaken off the police quite easily. Too easily. When she had turn around to look behind her she saw the cops all turning around, abandoning them. Why they did that, she did not know, but she was glad they left.

Softly Penny sat down on her bed, kicking off the boots Bane had given to her. The adrenaline was still rushing through her veins. Who had ever guessed she would have invaded a stock exchange with a wanted terrorist?

Beginning to feel kind of hungry, Penny stood up and turned towards the door, realizing it was unlocked. Placing her hand on the doorknob, Penny softly opened it. She hoped it was alright for her to take some food, frankly she was sick and tired of having to for ask everything. She was not a little child anymore.

"What are you doing?"

Bane's voice made Penny jump. She had not seen him sitting on the couch. The kitchen was connected to the living room, providing an open plan living space and the fact that she couldn't get to the kitchen unseen.

"Just… grabbing something to eat" Penny replied somewhat nervously, gesturing towards the kitchen.

Bane nodded, before gripping his shoulder with his hand. It didn't take long for Penny to realize he was in pain.

"Are you hurt?" she asked cautiously. She had lost track of Bane earlier, but by the looks of it he had been less lucky then she had been.

"It's nothing" Bane replied, standing up from the couch. He started walking towards the other end of the kitchen, walking right past Penny.

Penny took a deep breath before saying, "Let me see that." Until now Bane had taken good care of her, she could at least return the favor.

Bane stopped in his tracks, turning himself around to face Penny. "Did you not understand me?" he snapped back.

Penny decided to ignore his attitude, figuring he never had someone looking after him before. She walked around him, to check the wound he had on his back. His shirt was completely drained with blood and by the looks of it, the cut was deep.

"That needs to be stitched" Penny said, her eyes still scanning the wound. Bane's muscles around the wound were tense, but he seemed to handle the pain well.

"Are you a doctor?" Bane snarled back, turning around to face Penny.

"No…" Penny admitted. "But I can recognize a wound when I see one, thank you very much". She surprised herself with her attitude. After spending some time her she had gotten more comfortable around Bane. Penny was fully aware he could kill her within a second, but if he wanted her dead, wouldn't he have killed her already?

A muffled sigh escaped from Bane's mask. Penny walked over towards on of the chairs in the kitchen and went to stand behind it, waiting for Bane to sit down. Reluctantly Bane sat down, the chair seemed to almost break underneath his weight.

_I need scissors_. Penny turned and opened all the cabinets until she had found one and returned to Bane. "I have to cut open your shirt…" she stated. Not sure if Bane was okay with that, she decided to ask first. Bane simply nodded and Penny continued to put the fabric between the scissors, making sure she wasn't cutting Bane himself open.

The lack of shirt on his shoulder revealed his amazingly toned muscles. She knew a lot of guys who would kill to have these kind of traps. And she had to admit, the muscles weren't bad to look at. However she quickly pushed the thought away, realizing that it wasn't appropriate. This was her kidnapper she was talking about for crying out loud, not some hot guy she met in a bar.

Like Penny had guessed the wound was deep indeed. Suddenly she was doubting her ability whether she could stitch it. She had never stitched up someone before and frankly Penny was reluctant to do it without any anesthesia for Bane.

"You need to go to the hospital, I can't stitch this" Penny said, examining the wound another time.

"It does not need stitching. Just bandage it." Bane replied calmly. The pain didn't seem to faze him much. "You can find bandages in the left cupboard."

Penny did what her was told and opened the left cupboard, once she spotted the bandages she took all she needed. They even had something to disinfection the wound.

First she patted the wound clean with a little bit of water splashed on a towel. Once she applied some more pressure on the wound in order the really get it clean, she could feel Bane's muscles clench. To her surprise his skin was really hot. For some reason Penny had always expected Bane to feel cold. She couldn't help but warm her fingertips to the warmth of his skin, she couldn't help but feel his muscles, she couldn't but to… _Penelope, stop_. Her conscience was shouting before she realized what she was doing. _This man is a cold blooded killer, just do what you were told and leave him alone._

Without saying anything further, Penny continued bandaging Bane, while pushing her desires away. She wasn't even sure where they had come from, but she hoped they would never reappear.

"Done" Penny said, putting down the scissors with whom she had cut the tape. Immediately Bane stood up, letting his eyes meet hers. For a moment they stood there, looking each other in the eye. It was only now that Penny noticed that his eyes were actually an icy blue which seemed to go on for forever. It was impossible to read any emotion in them.

Bane was the first one to break the eye contact, which had seemed to go on for minutes. He turned around and headed up the stairs. It was still surprising how light footed he was.

"Bane?" Penny asked quickly before he had disappeared completely. "We had a deal" She reminded him.

Bane stopped about halfway on the stairs, making him tower even more over Penny. "We did" Bane replied honestly.

"I helped you" Penny moved each of her hands on her hips. "Twice, actually."

"The mission failed, you will get your parents once you actually deliver something we can work with."

Before Penny could reply, Bane had already disappeared.

**Author's Note:** I'm so sorry these chapters are taking so long, but I'm insanely busy with school. Also I do not really know if the word 'ETA' was correctly used, but I didn't know what else to use instead of it, lol. This chapter is a bit longer than I used to, I hope to keep this up in the future. And somebody asked if this was going to be a romance, I can reassure you it will become a romance eventually! Enjoy :)


	5. Chapter 5

Trigger warning: (I don't want to give away any spoilers, but oh well :() attempted rape and violence

Penny had not seen Bane the following day, or the next day, or the day after that. No one had came to check up on her and no one seemed to really care what she was doing. Even though she was pretty much alone inside the house, Penny dare not to leave it. From the window she could always see men running up and down the yard, taking weapons with them and bringing them back.

She had finished all the books provided for her and on the third day Penny had read them again, skipping to the chapters she liked the best. The words Bane told her three days ago still haunted her. She did not know what she had to do to prove she was worthy. She wanted to explain to him that it wasn't her fault that she couldn't complete the download, but he was gone.

On the third day the morning had passed without anyone showing up. Penny was getting tired, tired of being alone. She had always been alone and she was getting enough of it.

After washing the dishes that she had used for breakfast, Penny turned to her books again. After she read the first few pages she realized she had enough of it. Standing up from the couch, Penny walked over towards the stairs, wondering what was inside Bane's room.

She had thought about entering his room before, but she had never dared to. However after three days of waiting around without anyone to check up on her, she figured it couldn't hurt.

The stairs squeaked underneath her feet as the ascended them. The second floor was a lot smaller than the first floor. Penny had never been here before. Her eyes fell on three doors surrounding her, wondering which one would be Bane's room. She started to walk over to the first door on her right, opening it softly. She felt her heartbeat creeping up, she wasn't sure what she would encounter in the rooms. To be honest she never actually heard Bane leave, for all she knew he was still up here in his room.

The door revealed a plain and normal bathroom. There wasn't anything unusual to be seen. In fact it looked identical to the one she had. Feeling somewhat calmed down, Penny turned to the second door and opened this one with more confidence.

This room wasn't a bathroom, it was a bedroom. It was bigger than hers and by the looks of the half collapsed bed she guessed this was Bane's bedroom. Cautiously, Penny stepped inside, realized the bed was the only thing in the room. She was pretty sure this was were Bane slept, but not where he was plotting his plans.

That only left the final room. Softly Penny closed the door behind her as she turned towards the final and most left door.

"I would not go in there if I were you" the voice made her jump and quickly Penny let go of the doorknob which she was about to open.

Barsad was standing behind her.

"Where is Bane?" Penny asked impatiently. Something inside her told her this wasn't a coincidence, she _was_ being checked up on, just not the way she had expected.

"He'll be here soon" Barsad reassured her. "Can I escort you downstairs?"

Penny sighed and followed Barsad downstairs. "What am I supposed to do here?" she asked him, sitting down on the couch.

"Most people would worry about the fact that they are being held hostage" Barsad said, standing in front of her. "They would be busy planning an escape."

"I'm not leaving until I get my end of the deal" Penny snapped back, crossing her legs and leaning back.

Barsad chuckled. "Then you better get comfortable. I don't know what Bane sees in you. There are hundreds of hackers out there, most of them better than you. But then again he always had a soft spot for the weak and innocent."

"I'm not weak" Penny replied, wondering what exactly Barsad meant with that. After all she had been through she did not found herself weak, she always believed she had grown more stronger of everything she had encountered.

"But you are innocent" Barsad replied amused.

"That depends on what you see as 'innocent'" Penny replied, not so amused.

"It means that you do not have any blood on your hands. It means that you have not threatened to take over a whole city."

That part was true. Penny had indeed never threatened a whole city before. Indeed she had never killed someone and she planned to keep it that way. But if Barsad wasn't shutting up real soon he could be her first victim. She was not here to be pissed on.

"Just tell me when Bane is coming back. I haven't seen him in forever."

"You haven't seen him in three days. That is hardly forever. Are you that desperate to see him again?" Barsad's amusing tone was back again. He was enjoying this.

"Just tell me" Penny said annoyed, narrowing her eyes.

"He'll be back later today" Barsad said, walking over towards the door. "I suggest you have to find something to do instead of going through his personal space, he won't appreciate it."

Barsad gave a nod before opening the door, leaving Penny alone again.

* * *

Like Barsad had said, Bane returned that night. He had burst in her room while she had laid down for a moment, tired of doing nothing. Penny had heard him enter, only the hissing sound of his breathing betrayed him.

Penny shot up, rubbing her eyes to let it adjust to the light coming in through the door. "You're back" Penny said, somewhat relieved. She was desperate for some company, even if it was her kidnapper.

"Yes I am back" Bane replied dryly, still standing in front of Penny's bed. "But not for long. I will be gone in the morning. I cannot tell you when I will be back."

"Am I to stay here?" Penny asked. Her heart dropped again when Bane told her he was leaving again. Maybe she could convince Barsad to sleep in the house. She needed a presence around her.

"Yes you are."

"What am I supposed to do?" Penny said impertinent. "I have read all books and I can't go outside…"

"You will find something" Bane replied, not really impressed. "You can sing. Why don't you spend your day singing? It is one of your passions, is it not?"

"I don't have an audience" Penny had to admit she did miss singing. Since she had gotten here she just didn't feel like it and for some reason it she could not remember any song she liked singing.

"The walls are your audience, Penelope" Bane said, before moving out of the room again and locking it on his way out.

It took a moment before Penny realized what Bane was doing. She jumped out of bed and practically ran to the door, loudly banging on it with her fists. "What are you doing!?" she started shouting. "You can't lock me up. You can't leave me here!"

There was no reply.

* * *

The next hour seemed to pass dreadfully slow. Penny couldn't sleep, there were all kinds of thoughts clouding her mind. She only had questions and there was no one to answer them. Why did Bane lock her up again? Was this part of some plan? What was so supposed to do? Would she get something to eat? Did anyone else know she was here?

She could not believe she actually wanted Bane to come back to the house. Those feelings were long gone and she hoped he would never return.

* * *

It was hard to keep a track of time. After awhile Penny had fallen asleep and woken up a few times. There was no clock present in the room and only the books were there to accompany her. _And the walls…_

The sound of the door opening woke up Penny. The person who just entered was a lot louder than Bane had been, even though he was about a foot smaller. It took one quick glance to realize Penny had never seen this man before.

"Can I help you?" she asked suspicious. Penny hoped the man was bringing her food, but his hands were empty.

The man closed the door behind him. He wore the same uniform as the rest of Bane's men. This man in particular stood out because of his almost white blonde hair. His eyes were narrow and his lips were slim. Soft stubble covered his chin. Penny figured that shaving was not one of the priorities around here.

The man did not reply but instead continued to move closer towards Penny, causing her to slide more back in her bed, pulling the blanket up to her chin.

"Who are you. What do you want?" Penny attempted again.

"Ben" the man said. He leaned closer, resting his hands on Penny's bed. His head was now only a few inches away from hers. Feeling her heartbeat creeping up, the man continued. "And I want _you_."

Penny's eyes widened. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She wanted to scream for help but there was no one around to hear her. _Only the walls._

The man lifted his right hand from the bed and moved it towards Penny's thigh, which was still covered with the blanket. "I will not hurt you if you cooperate" Ben promised her.

Penny moved her legs around to stop Ben from touching them. "Get out" she tried to sound confident, but there was a slight tremble in her voice.

"After I'm done" the man nodded, attempted to hold Penny's legs still while trying to pull the blanket off of Penny.

Ben was coming closer and closer and instinctively Penny spat him right in his face, causing him to remove his hands from her legs to remove Penny's spit from her face. "You filthy whore!" he spat out. Penny had already moved to the other side of the bed, attempting to climb off it. But once again she was blocked and Ben was standing right in front of her. His arm extended and swung towards Penny's face, causing his fist to collide with Penny's nose.

Immense pain shot throughout her body and she could feel the warm blood trickling from her nose. Once again her mind felt clouded and it was hard to keep track of what was happening. Her vision became blurry but she could still feel the blows hitting her head perfectly fine.

"Stop" she mumbled more to herself than to Ben.

"Stop" she said again, now with a little more confidence.

"What did you say? Do you want more?" Ben smirked, wiping the blood of his hands.

"No, please, stop" Penny said.

"More, then" Ben nodded, following another blow against her temple.

Penny was desperately trying to regain her strength. She spat on him again, this time blood covered his face. Just as the blood had left her mouth, it had filled up again, leaving an iron-like taste.

That seemed to anger Ben only more. Instead of letting his fist collide with Penny's face, he used his hands to pull down her pants. _No. Please._

As hard as she could Penny kicked with her legs. Luckily her left foot clashed hard into Ben's balls. Like a little boy he cried out and jumped backwards. His hands gripping his sensitive area.

Penny seized the opportunity and made a run for the door. Trying to ignore the pain she was experiencing in her whole body, trying to ignore the blood dripping along her face. Ben had not locked the door when he had entered. Penny opened it and checked if there was someone in the living room. But there wasn't. She ran towards the door leading outside, hearing Ben closing in on her.

"You are dead, girl. You hear me? DEAD!"

Adrenaline was taking over. Penny opened the door, letting the sunshine hit her face. It was a welcome sight and it made her feel somewhat safe. Slamming the door shut behind her, Penny made her way over to the barn. There had to be someone there. But could she trust them? Ben was also one of Bane's men, who knew if the rest of the guys were just like him?

"Help" she shouted as loud as she can. "Barsad!?" Besides Barsad and Bane she didn't knew anyone else around here. And since Bane was gone Barsad was her only hope.

Out of nowhere Bane's men started pouring out of the barn, all wondering what was happening. Relieved Penny ran towards them, hoping that they were able to help her. "Help, please" she stumbled once she got to the first man she came across.

"Hold her!" Ben was shouting from behind Penny. Terrified, she turned around. _They weren't going to believe him, were they?_ "Look what she did to me!" Ben pointed towards the blood on his face.

Two tight hands gripped her wrists and turned her arms on her back. Pain shot through her arms, but she was more hurt by the fact they did not believe her. "That's _my_ blood" Penny spat back.

The hands didn't let go while she tried explaining what had happened. "He tried to rape me. He did this to my face. I could hardly defend myself. That is MY blood on his face!"

The men around her stopped before her, standing in a circle around her and Ben. Penny could read their faces easily, they were all not sure who to believe. A part of Penny could not blame them, Ben was one of their crew, on of their brothers. She was just a hostage.

"Is she telling the truth?" the man who was holding her asked.

"No, how can you even ask that?" Ben replied indignant. "I tried to bring her food, and she just turned on me. I had to defend myself as she had armed herself with the fork I brought her"

Penny couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Are you sure that is the truth?"

_Barsad_.

Penny turned her head to see him emerging through the circle.

"Because she looks far worse than you do" Barsad referred to Penny's battered and bruised face. It couldn't be a pretty sight.

"Of course I am telling to truth. Are you taking her side? I'm your brother for fucks sake!" Penny could see Ben getting desperate.

"If you did that to a defenseless girl…" Barsad nodded towards Penny. "… you are not my brother"

Barsad moved forward towards Penny and kneeled besides her. The man who was holding her immediately let go of his grip. "Did he do this to you? Speak honestly"

Penny swallowed a little bit of blood before replying "Yes."

Barsad nodded that he understood and stood up again, now facing Ben. Penny felt relieved, happy even. She wanted to smile but everything hurt too much. Slowly she too stood up, causing her head to pound. There was nothing more Penny wanted to do but sleep. _I could also use some painkillers…_

"You better pray Bane does not hear about this" Barsad nodded towards his men who understood him without fault. Two men seized Ben and took him back inside the barn. Like Penny expected, Ben was trying to break loose, but the two men overpowered him easily. It was a sight Penny enjoyed to see. She liked that now Ben knew how it felt knowing you would die within the next hour. Bane was not one to be messed with and he had clearly ordered everyone to stay away from her.

"Let's get you cleaned up" Barsad softly put a hand on her shoulder, trying not to hurt her, and led her back towards the barn. Once they reached the door he waited for Penny to catch up. "Don't you worry about Ben. Bane is coming back tonight and he will make sure this won't ever happen again"

**Author's Note: Not much of Bane in this chapter, my apologies. Like Barsad said he will be back next chapter. Also I wanted to give you a head's up that Talia does not exist in my version of the story, I hope that's alright because otherwise my story won't add up eventually, lol. Enjoy reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

Penny sat down on one of the wooden chairs in the kitchen. Her whole body was numb, too tired to function. The pounding in her head seemed to have gone down a little, but it could also be that she had gotten used to it. She could still feel some blood trickling down her cheek from the cut along her eyebrow. Ben had gotten her good… And now Bane would get him.

Barsad began to clean the wounds with a wet towel and a little alcohol. Penny flinched upon his touch, Ben's touch still haunting her mind. "I'm not going to hurt you" Barsad assured and Penny trusted him. She knew Barsad was one of Bane's most loyal men and he would always follow his orders. The alcohol stung, but the bleeding seemed to stop. Penny drifted away with her thoughts, trying to remember who where parents where. She had tried so many times but she always failed. The search for them would be so much easier if she just knew what they looked like…

The loud noise of the door slamming open made Penny jump a little. Barsad stepped away from Penny, allowing Bane to move closer to her. She could see the blood on Bane's knuckles and guessed he had already taken care of Ben. That made her more at ease. She would never have to see Ben again, nor could he ever try to take revenge on her.

Penny moved her eyes so they met Bane's. Barsad had not yet had the chance to fully clean her up, so her face still looked like a mess. She could feel Bane's eyes scanning her face, taking in every wound that she had. Penny could only imagine all the bruises that covered her body that she had yet to discover…

"Not one of us had seen Ben going into the house" Barsad explained. "If we knew what was going on we would have acted more quickly." Bane's eyes moved onto Barsad, his fingers still twitching with anger.

"Your job was to guard her" Bane replied surprisingly calm even though his body language screamed anger.

Penny's head began to pound again. Softly she moved her hand towards her head, placed her elbow on the table and let her head rest in the palm of her hand, hoping the pain would go away soon. Hoping the memories of the incident would go away soon.

The voices of Bane and Barsad were muted and she hadn't even heard Barsad leave the house. Penny lifted her head from her hands to face Bane.

"You let him overpower you" he stated, not breaking eye contact.

"How could he not overpower me?" Penny snapped back, her head hurting more with each word she spoke. Ben had been bigger than she was and he was probably a lot stronger than she was. How was she was she supposed to be stronger than him?

"You could have outsmarted him"

"I was kind of panicking"

Her reply made Bane chuckle. He moved closer to her and picked up the wet cloth that Barsad had left on the table. Again, Penny flinched a little when he moved the cloth towards her face, even though it did not hurt as much. "There will be no more reason for you to panic anymore" Bane gently patted the blood away from her face. The gentleness of his moves surprised Penny. His touch felt better and softer than Barsad's had been. "I will make sure of that" Bane added.

Bane's eyes were concentrating on the wounds of her face. He was now only inches away from her and she could feel her stomach starting the flutter. _What is wrong with me?_ Penny tried to push her feelings away but it proved to be a lot harder than she thought.

Bane put down the cloth, his eyes still fixed on Penny's. It took some effort for Penny to look away. There was something about his eyes that attracted her. She had never seen such expressive eyes before. Even though half of his face was covered by his mask, Penny could read every emotion. Right now, she guessed calmness.

"I have another task for you" Bane said, breaking the silence. He move away from Penny and walked over to the counter top to place a laptop in front of her.

The pounding in her head was starting again. There was no way she was able to hack any databases, not today. "What did you do to Ben?" Penny wondered. The question had haunted her after Bane had entered the room, but also secretly she wanted to change the topic, hoping Bane would forget about it.

"That is none of your concern. The only thing you need to know that he will not harm you again. Or any of the other men for that matter."

Bane opened the laptop and pressed the button to start it. Penny sighed. She really didn't want to do this, but Bane was in a fairly good mood today and she didn't know if it was smart to speak against him.

"Do I have to do this right now?"

"Yes"

"Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

"Did you not hear me the first time, Penelope?"

Penny rolled her eyes, wishing she hadn't done it. Her left eye was starting to swell and every move she made, it started to hurt more.

"It's just that…" Penny started carefully. "… everything hurts"

"That is life. We go through pain and we have to teach ourselves to deal with it. I have suffered a great deal of pain and do you see me complaining about it? The pain that you are feeling is nothing. And if you can not handle this, than I doubt you are fit to live in this world."

* * *

Reluctantly, Penny did was her was told. She tried to ignore her pounding heaand. Her hands were trembling while she was trying to type in rows of coding, hoping it would stop soon. Her task was to extract the files they had tried to download at the stock exchange. The download had not yet finished, but Bane figured there was still something the be found in the midst the codes. Penny wasn't so sure.

She had to admit extracting everything was a lot harder than just hacking into a database and letting a filter run over it. This required some skill, skill she did not have.

"How's it going?" Penny had not noticed Barsad standing behind her.

"Not bad" Penny lied, her eyes still concentrated on the screen.

"I'm sorry Bane made you do this, especially after what just happened"

Penny could hear sincerity in his voice. "Thanks" she turned around and smiled faintly. Every expression she made still hurt bad, even after taking some painkillers. "But this is life and I have to get used to the pain."

Barsad raised his eyebrows while Penny was reciting what Bane had told her. "Where is Bane anyway? I have to speak to him"

"You want to know what you are supposed to do with the body" Penny said, absent mindedly, already faced back towards the laptop.

"You're good" Barsad said quite amused.

"He's upstairs" Penny pointed towards the stairs leading up to the second floor, an area she didn't dare to come anymore.

Penny watched Barsad heading up the stairs before turning back to her laptop. This was taking her ages and it looked like everything was leading towards a dead end. The fact that she seemed unable to extract any of the files made her wonder why Bane kept her here. Surely there would be better hackers than she was?

Quickly she pushed the thought away and continued, Bane would want this finished as quickly as possible.

It took another hour of typing before it looked like things started to go somewhere. In the meantime Barsad had left and Bane had not left his room. Penny had helped herself to a cup of coffee and watched the files being extracted. The internet connection was surprisingly fast for such a remote area.

Penny's heart skipped a beat when she read _'Extraction Completed'_ on the screen. Had it worked?

Quickly she closed the screen to see what exactly she had extracted. The folder opened and immediately she saw that most of the files were damaged, but some of them were intact. Like she had expected, the ones that were completed were encrypted. Luckily decrypting files was something she could do sleeping. She could not even remember the amount of files she had decrypted in the past few months in the hope to find her parents. Hopefully these files were of use.

* * *

The first file she decrypted was nothing special. Just some files that meant absolutely nothing to her. The second and third file were the same. But by the time she had encrypted the fourth and final file, things got interesting.

At first Penny did not fully realize what she was seeing. But after taking a closer look she realized she was looking at the fingerprints of Bruce Wayne. _The_ Bruce Wayne, eccentric playboy millionaire. Immediately a question came to her, what the hell were Bruce Wayne's prints doing at the stock exchange?

There were no more files to decrypt and no more files to extract. Penny stood up from her chair and walked over to the stairs. Hesitating, she placed her right foot in the first step, not sure whether to continue. Was she supposed to report her findings to Bane? Or was she to stay here? Not sure what the do, Penny took the risk to go up the stairs. Softly she placed her feet on the steps and moved upwards.

"That took you long enough"

Bane's voice made Penny jump. She had been concentrating on the placement of her feet, being careful not to make any sudden movements, that she had not heard Bane on the top of the stairs. Actually, it was quite terrifying how softly Bane could move around.

"I told you before, I'm not the best hacker. If you want it done faster, I suggest you should get someone else" Penny snapped back. She knew Bane was fully aware of her hacker capabilities.

"I see that you have your attitude back, a mistake, I fear. I suggest you should think before you speak, because I could get someone else and you know too much to let you live."

Penny regarded that as a warning and decided not to say anything back. Bane could kill her within a second and something inside her told her he would do so if necessary.

Because Bane was standing on top of the stairs and Penny a few steps under him, he was looked even taller. Penny let her eyes meet his before telling him what she had found.

"I found something you should see" Penny insisted. She broke off the eye contact and turned around to go back downstairs. She sat down on the chair and placed the laptop in such a way Bane was able to see the information she just had found.

"Interesting" Bane said when he glanced upon the fingerprints. "Anything else?"

Penny was surprised at his lack of interest. It seemed he was not impressed by the find. In fact, it almost looked like he had expected this.

"No, there was nothing" Penny closed the fingerprints to show him the rest of the damaged files. "Most of them were damaged and the other files seemed to be random files with no value"

She turned around to see what Bane was doing, but he wasn't there. Penny had not heard him moving behind her also she did not hear a door closing, so she figured he moved back to his room again. "Thanks for letting me finish" Penny muttered to herself, annoyed by Bane's behavior.

Ascending the stairs, Penny followed Bane to his room. This time he was not standing on top of the stairs, but he was behind one of the closed doors. Penny knew what was behind each door, except for one and she figured he was there. Gently the tapped her knuckles on the door. "Bane?" she asked.

To be honest, she was getting tired of him. Even though she got almost raped today, she still had to perform a difficult task and got nothing for it in return. Bane had promised her her parents, and so far she had not seen any sign of them.

The door flung open and Bane stood in the door opening. Penny didn't even got a chance to glance inside, as she was practically pushed backwards by him while he closed the door behind him.

"You did what was asked of you, now go and rest, your body needs it" Bane started, crossing his immense arms in front of him.

"Not before I get what we agreed on" Penny said, also crossing her arms.

Bane muffled his eyebrows. "You will get the end of your deal"

"When?"

"When the time is right. Now please, go and rest"

Penny sensed Bane wasn't in the mood to argue and to be honest, she _was_ starting to feel very tired.

"My bed is covered in blood" she replied dryly.

Bane sighed. "I'll let someone clean it." He uncrossed his arms, moving closer to Penny, who could feel her stomach starting to flutter with every inch he moved closer. "In the meantime, you can stay in my room."

**Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, but I was insanely busy with school. I hope to get the next chapter out there a lot sooner than this one. Also someone asked what Bane's motives were without Talia there, I promise you it will be explained in the future chapters! Merry Christmas and enjoy reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

The following morning Penny woke up to an empty bed. Bane's bed was huge in order for him to fit, but it looked like this night only Penny slept in it. _Well, I think so_. Last night she dosed of quickly and she could not recall Bane also sleeping in the bed. She didn't know if Bane even slept at all.

With her fingertips she pushed off the blankets that covered her body. She had taken off her blood stained pants, but didn't feel comfortable enough to also take off her shirt. The air felt cold and upon feeling it, her body covered itself in goose bumps. Swiftly she slid on her pants and walked towards the half open door. The door towards Bane's office (at least, Penny guessed that it was an office) was closed, like usual. Feeling rather hungry Penny descended the stairs to look what she could find in the fridge.

"Did you sleep well?"

Penny jumped a little and rolled her eyes. "Do you enjoy scaring the crap out of me?" For some reason Bane could move around without making any noise and even after so many times, it still surprised Penny when began speaking out of nowhere.

Bane chuckled. He was seated on the couch in the living room area. Like always he wore a black tee and cargo pants. "Frankly, yes" he replied, uncrossing his legs and leaning forward. Penny could hear the couch screeching when Bane shifted his weight around. Next he patted his hand on the couch, gesturing that Penny should sit down next to him.

Her immediate response was the fluttering in her stomach. Somewhat reluctantly she sat down next to him, not sure what his intentions were. "Your hobbies include singing, am I correct?" Bane started. _Oh god no. _Suddenly it became crystal clear in what direction Bane was heading.

"Yes…" she said somewhat distrusting.

"I want you to sing for me"

Penny's eyes widened when Bane confirmed what she was thinking. She considered it for a second but quickly realized she wasn't able to. Penny had almost forgotten she was able to sing and without practicing everyday, she doubted whether she was able to even belt out a decent note.

"You heard me sing in the bar" Penny defended.

"I want to hear you sing, _now_"

Penny sighed. She really, really didn't want to do this. "Why?"

"Penelope" Bane warned.

"I can't remember any songs!" Penny tried explaining. She could see it in his eyes that Bane was enjoying this. She hoped he also would enjoy hearing her sing. Without a doubt the quality of her voice had been on a downwards spiral lately.

"Yes, you can" Bane raised his eyebrows, waiting patiently for Penny to start.

Penny closed her eyes, desperately trying to think of a sing. When one finally came to mind, she took in a deep breath and started singing.

"_All along it was a fever,  
A cold sweat with hot-headed believers,  
I threw my hands in the air and said show me something,  
He said, if you dare, come a little closer."_

Penny kept her eyes closed, concentrating on the lyrics, trying to remember them. This was without a doubt the most terrifying performance she had ever given.

"_Round and around and around we go,  
Now tell me now, tell me now, tell me now you know."_

Penny stopped singing and opened her eyes to let them meet up with Bane. The emotion she read in his eyes was confusing. This was the first time when she was not able to read any emotion in his eyes. It could be calmness, anger and fascinating at the same time.

"Did I tell you to stop?" Bane snapped annoyed.

"Sorry" Penny mumbled. She straightened her back and closed her eyes again, letting the lyrics come to her instead of searching for them.

"_Not really sure how to feel about it,  
Something in the way you move,  
Makes me feel like I can't live without you,  
It takes me all the way,  
I want you to stay."_

"That's it" Penny said shyly, feeling rather uncomfortable. She felt Bane's knee touching hers and it made her long for more. She couldn't deny her feelings anymore. There was something about him that made her want him. Something dark and mysterious, something she had never felt before.

"Did you have a particular reason for the song choice?" Bane asked. The emotion in his eyes had changed, it was less confused than before. Penny could only wonder what exactly it meant.

"It was the first one that came to mind" Penny replied honestly, also wondering why exactly that song came to mind. Suddenly all kinds of lyrics came back to her and she found herself remembering how amazing singing felt.

"You should sing more often, you have a lovely voice" Bane gently squeezed Penny's knee, before standing up and walking over towards the door. _No, come back, don't go._ Penny smiled, suddenly very aware of how much the wounds on her face were hurting. She had forgotten all about them.

"There is food in the fridge and when I return I will clean your wounds again. If you need anything, Barsad is busy outside" Bane gave her a nod before opening the door and he softly vanished from the room.

* * *

Like most days Penny was alone, and most of all bored. She had booted up the computer but then wondered what she was supposed to do with it. Barsad was probably busy with something and she figured he would not need her help.

Absent mindedly Penny started to roam around the house. When she walked into her own room she saw that her bed had fresh blood-free linens covering them, a welcome sight. Penny turned towards the bathroom to examine herself in the mirror. Her bruises had gotten even worse, but she could see a little improvement in the cuts. The wound itself had dried and a scab was forming.

Penny found herself softly humming the song she had sung to Bane earlier. She had found her voice again, now the only thing she needed was to get the lyrics back.

Sitting down on one of the chairs, Penny turned the laptop on again. She figured could find some lyrics on the internet. While waiting for the laptop to finish starting up, she noticed a wooden panel sticking out just besides the door leading to her bedroom.

It sparked her curiosity, as she could not recall it sticking out before. She stood up again from her chair, abandoning the laptop and turned to the wooden panel. Her fingers traced it and quickly she found it was loose. Easily she could get it off, exposing a doorknob behind it. _What the hell?_

Penny pushed and pulled but the doorknob would not move until she realized it was probably a sliding door. She carefully slid the door to the left and a staircase revealed itself. Looking behind her, Penny checked if she could see anybody. She knew Barsad was right outside, but she figured he was too busy to check up on her.

The staircase was dark and she could not find a light switch. Penny knew there was a flashlight in one of the cupboards in the kitchen and quickly she retrieved it. She shone the flashlight down and the staircase seemed to be leading towards a basement.

Penny slid the door back behind her and descended the stairs, letting the light of the flashlight guide her. She never knew the house had a basement and she couldn't stop wondering what was down here. It was obvious that someone had been here recently and hadn't placed the wooden panel back correctly. Penny knew she was probably not supposed to find this place and that sparked her curiosity even more.

When Penny placed her feet on the ground she took in a deep breath before continuing. She found a light switch right next to her, but she didn't dare to switch it on. Who knows what she could find? With her flashlight she shone down the hallway and found another set of doors. _There is nothing down here_, Penny told herself to boost her self-confidence before opening the first door.

Penny narrowed her eyes when she saw the room. This wasn't some sort of an office or storage, it was a cell. In the right corner there was a bed made out of steel, covered with a thin blanket. A lavatory was placed on the left wall and there were shackles in the middle of the room, apart from that, nothing.

_What is this place?_

Penny found that the second and third room also were cells. By the looks of it, no prisoners were being held here, but she still had to check the final room. She placed her hand on the doorknob and pushed it down. _Locked_.

When she found that the door was locked, Penny's hard skipped a beat. It could only mean that there was someone inside, but _who_?

"Hello?" Penny tried, but she received no answer.

"Is anyone there?" she tried again followed by a few minutes of silence.

It was of no hope, Penny realized. Whoever was in there had probably died a slow and painful death. She turned around to return back to the stairs when she heard a low and weak voice coming from the locked cell.

"Who are you?" the voice called.

Penny immediately recognized the accent. It was Russian.

"I'm Penny" she started. "Penelope. I'm Bane's… Bane's guest" She didn't know what she was anymore. She knew that she was a hostage at first, but are you still a hostage when you have helped them? Was she an accomplice, a guest?

"Can you get me out of here?"

"No, I don't have the keys…" Penny said. "But why are you here? Why is Bane keeping you as a prisoner?"

"Don't you know who I am, girl?" The voice began speaking a little bit louder which made it easier for Penny to understand him. She wished the cell had a little window so she could see what the prisoner looked like.

"No, I don't" Penny admitted. "Bane doesn't really tell me anything about his mission. Or whatever he is doing."

"I'm Dr. Pavel and I'm a nuclear physicist."

_A what?_

"And I'm here for the bomb."

Penny blinked a couple of times, before fully realizing what the man just told her. "What bomb?" she said, cocking her head slightly to the right. She never knew anything about a bomb.

"A nuclear bomb, no less. Wayne Enterprises is currently in possession of a large energy source which can also be used as a nuclear bomb. When Bane get's hold of it, I'm the one who has the activate it and if everything goes to plan, Gotham will be ashes in about seven months"

It felt like the world had stopped around her, she couldn't even feel her heart beat anymore. The only emotion she could feel was fear, fear and anxiety. _I have to get out of here. _Without saying anything further Penny turned around and ran up the stairs as fast as she could. When she reached the top she tried to catch her breath before stepping out into the kitchen.

She could not believe what the physicist just told her. A bomb? A nuclear bomb? Was she helping a terrorist planning to bomb the shit out of a city the whole time? Suddenly everything became clear, Bruce Wayne's prints, everything. All that she knew was that she was going to let Bane know that she was never going to help him again. She would not cooperate with a mass murderer.

**Author's Note: Another chapter, yay! I apologize because it is somewhat short, but at least this chapter didn't take me another month, lol. Also I can tell you that the Batman is going to make an appearance sooner or later, but Penny won't be romantically linked to him. Enjoy and happy boxing day! (also, tomorrow is my birthday :D)**


	8. Chapter 8

_As quiet as possible Penny shut the door behind her. Softly she looked at her feet, making sure to not step on the floorboard that squeaked when you stepped on it. She thought she made it safely through the kitchen, but suddenly the light switched on. Penny blinked a couple of times to adjust to the harsh light._

_"And where are you coming from, young lady?" Mary said. She was sitting on one of the chairs in the kitchen and was tapping her fingers impatiently._

_"Nowhere" Penny lied._

_Mary tilted her head to the right and raised her eyebrows. "Is that dirt on your jeans?" _

_Penny stared down, suddenly very aware of how dizzy everything around her was. Her jeans was indeed covered in dirt. "Yep" she replied dryly, still examining the stains._

_"Have you been drinking?" Mary narrowed her eyes._

_"Nope" Penny said. It was very hard not to giggle, but you had to admit, this was kind of funny…_

_"You have been hanging out with that Derek guy, haven't you? I have told you a million times, that boy is bad news!"_

_"At least he loves me for who I am!" Penny could suddenly feel the anger boiling inside of her. She had enough of the foster families, she was 17 for crying out loud, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself._

_"Penny, you know that is not true. Me and your dad love you very much."_

_"He's not my dad and you are not my mother" Penny snarled back. "I wish you were dead!"_

* * *

Penny remained in her room for the rest of the day, thinking about what she had encountered. What she was not supposed to see. But she did see it. She did see Dr. Pavel, well, she heard him. Bane never told her about a bomb. Whatever he demanded of her next, she would not cooperate, even if it would cost her her life.

After a while she had fallen half-asleep. She had not heard the door opening when Bane stepped inside her room. She could feel a warm hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her to wake her up. Hesitant she opened her eyes, she wasn't ready to face the truth, not yet.

Ignoring Bane, Penny turned around again, now letting her back face him. "Just five more minutes" she mumbled as if she had just woken up to go to school.

"You have slept enough" Bane pulled the blanket from Penny's body. The cold immediately hit her but she could not pull the blanket back. Sighing she pushed herself up to face Bane, his cold eyes piercing through hers.

"I know" Penny simply stated when she broke the silence. She could see Bane furrowing his brows, his eyes full of confusion.

"You have to speak more clearly, Penelope" Bane replied, never breaking the eye contact.

"I know about Dr. Pavel. I know that you have locked him in the basement. I know about the _bomb_."

One again Bane's eyes were impossible to read. She saw some confusion, some anger but also something impressed. "How did you find him?"

"It wasn't too difficult, actually. You have to speak more clearly to your men, Bane. This one did not get the memo of putting the panel back. It was sticking out a couple of inches, how could I not miss it?"

Bane moved closer to Penny. "You listen carefully. Firstly, I do not like to be spoken to with that attitude. I suggest you change it. Secondly, you have to know your boundaries. There is only so much I am willing to take from you, and you are close to crossing that line."

Bane's words pierced through her. But instead of warning her, scaring her, they did the opposite. They angered her.

"If you think I'm going to cooperate with you, you are wrong. I will not help a terrorist. Someone who is planning to murder millions of innocent people, children even."

"But you _will_ cooperate, Penelope" Bane stated with confidence.

"And what makes you think that?" Penny knew she was indeed close to crossing the line, but she had to stand up for herself, she had to stand up for Gotham.

"Because I happen to know more about your parents. Better be careful with what you say, or we have to end our deal right here"

"You don't know anything about my parents. Your bluffing" Penny was puzzled. She didn't know if he was telling the truth. After all she had found out today, she did not exactly trust him. "You know as much about them as I do" she added.

"And that is where you are wrong. However, unless you help me, I'm not going to help you. Remember the deal we made."

Penny remembered the deal they made very clearly. She remembered that she was going to help him and then he was going to help her. But as far as she knew she had helped him and she had yet to receive some help in return.

She decided not to reply to him. There was anger forming in his eyes and she didn't want any more bruises to add to her collection. Instead of replying she told him her wounds needed to be cleaned again, just like he had said that morning before he had left.

"Barsad will do it" he said emotionless before stomping up the stairs and throwing the door behind him shut.

* * *

_After a few hours Penny could think more clearly. The alcohol had disappeared from her blood and she finally came to grips with what she had told Mary. She had to apologize, she could not afford losing another foster family again._

_She threw the sheets away and softly tiptoed down the stairs. Mary was still seated in the kitchen, her head buried in her hands. The sight made Penny's heart drop. She did not mean to be such a nuisance. I really have to change my ways, she told herself. _

_"Mary?" she began carefully. Penny walked over to one of the chairs and sat down opposite of Mary._

_Gently Mary raised her head from her hands to face Penny. She raises her eyebrows while waiting for Penny to speak._

_"I want to apologize. I'm sorry that I behaved the way I did and I promise it won't ever happen again" Penny spoke with truth. She realized that Derek was bad news for her, but she did like to be with him. Of course they had done some stuff together she wish she hadn't, but there was something about him that made her drawn to him._

_"I appreciate that. However…" Mary took something from her pocket and threw it on the table. "… how can you explain this?"_

_The packet that Mary had thrown contained white powder, undoubtedly it was cocaine. Penny's eyes widened upon the sight of it. She was supposed to get rid of it tonight._

_"That's not mine" Penny explained._

_"Then what was it doing in your pocket?" Disappointment was dripping of every word Mary said._

_"I was supposed to get it to someone tonight, but I forgot. I never took any of it! You have to believe me."_

_"Penny, I can't do this anymore. I cannot cope with a drug-dealing child. I have warned you several times and yet you always fall back into your regular pattern."_

_And right then Penny knew she had lost yet another family. She was alone again._

* * *

Penny waited for Barsad in her room, wondering if he also knew about Bane's master plan. And if he knew, why did he cooperate? He wasn't a hostage like she was, why would he willingly help a terrorist?

After she found out about the bomb, Penny could not imagine herself ever liking Bane again. Her whole opinion about him had changed. Bane had treated her well, for a hostage, but after hearing he was planning to kill millions of innocent people, she pushed her feelings for him away.

"Yes?" Penny said bad-tempered after hearing knocks on her door. The door opened and Barsad stepped inside carrying medical supplies in his left hand.

"Let's get you cleaned up" he said. Penny moved to the edge of her bed so Barsad could clean the wounds on her face. His touch was a lot harsher than Bane's had been. She couldn't help but flinch a couple of times when Barsad rubbed alcohol in the wounds.

"Did you know about the bomb?" she asked after a few minutes of silence. She had to know if he knew about it. If they all knew about it.

"Yes" Barsad stated, keeping his eyes fixed on the wounds to avoid eye contact.

"And you agree with it?"

"Yes."

Penny sighed, annoyed by the fact that he was so abrupt with her. "But why? Why would you want to agree with killings millions of innocent people?"

Barsad stopped cleaning and let his eyes meet hers. "They are hardly innocent" he said.

"The children are" Penny tried convincing him.

"Every war needs some sacrificing" Barsad pushed himself up to stand in front of Penny. "I think your wounds are cleaned." Without saying anything further he turned around and walked over to the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Penny leaned back to lie down in her bed. She could feel the tears in her eyes and she didn't exactly know why they were there. She knew she had to cooperate with Bane, even if she didn't want to.

Softly Penny traced her wounds with her fingers and a vague memory of Ben returned to her, but also Derek and what he had done to her returned.

* * *

She could not remember if she had fallen asleep or not, the only thing she knew was that suddenly gun shots were all around her. Penny shot up and walked over to the door, wondering where the sound was coming from. Was this a training exercise or something?

Carefully she opened the door and realized this was not an exercise, it was far from it. Penny could see police men all around the property and Bane's men who were fighting back. _They were being overrun._

Not sure what to do, Penny left her room and ran up the stairs to Bane's room. Impatiently she knocked on his door, her heart pounding rapidly. But there was no response. "Bane?" she said. Still no reply.

He isn't here, Penny realized. "Bane!?" she shouted again, hoping someone would hear her, but the sound of her voice was swallowed by the sound of the loud gun shots coming from outside. No one would be able to hear her.

Knowing she had to get out of here, Penny turned to the kitchen and pulled open all the cabinets to find the sharpest knife in there. She had to defend herself, soon the police men would go for the house and they would find her here.

_But they could save me, they could save me from Bane_. But did she want to be saved?

She slid the knife in her back pocket and threw on one of the large black jackets that were lying around. _Where is everybody?_ She kept wondering. As soft as she could, she opened the front door and closed it behind her again. So far the policemen were more busy with defending themselves than with a potential hostage escaping from the premises.

Not sure of where she was going, Penny started running. Running in the opposite direction of where the policemen were. Hoping that she would run into Bane of Barsad, but something inside her told her they were long gone. _Did he even care about me?_

No, Penelope, you have to stop these thoughts, she told herself. You hate this man and this will be the perfect time to escape from him. You will never see him again.

It was dark outside and Penny realized she was running towards a forest. She kept running and running as hard as the could, but she never was the best runner. Penny tripped a couple of times which slowed her down, she didn't hear anyone following her, but then again she was more busy with not running into any trees.

"HALT!"

Penny narrowed her eyes and tried to hear where the sound was coming from. She turned around to see someone carrying a flashlight running towards her. _Shit._ She started running again, getting cramps all over her body.

"STOP!" the voice said again. "I'm not your enemy!"

Penny fought to keep running, but she could feel her body slowing down. She must have run for at least a couple of miles and she was exhausted. It turned out a police officer had been following her. "I won't hurt you" he told her as he also stopped running.

Penny tried to get a control of breathing, which was proving to be a lot harder than she thought. "Where is Bane?" she snarled.

"He got away, but he won't get you again. You are safe with us" Penny moved her eyes to check who exactly had followed her. She wasn't sure if the man was an officer, he didn't wear the police gear but he was with them. He had dark hear and big brown eyes which were scanning Penny's bruised and battered face.

"He _will_ get me again" Penny replied determined. "Who are you anyway?"

"Blake" he replied. "Detective Blake"

Before she knew it Blake was behind her, cuffing her. "What are you doing?" Penny asked surprised upon feeling the cold cuffs on her wrists. "I'm not one of them! I was just a hostage!"

"And they treated you well" Blake referred to her face.

"No, no, Bane didn't do this to me" Penny explained. "It was one of his men, but it doesn't matter. I _was _treated well!"

"You have to come with me, you have to tell us everything you know about Bane. _Everything_."

Blake gave Penny a soft push, indicating that she had to start walking. "He will come for me, he _will_" Penny said again. Although she wasn't really sure if they would. They did leave her behind in the first place…

**Author's Note: I hope you liked the flashbacks. I wanted to give you some insight on Penny's past and that she might not be so innocent after all. Hopefully you all have an amazing New Year's Eve and I will see you on the next chapter in 2013! As always I appreciate reviews and I would definitely like to know what you think. Bye!**


	9. Chapter 9

Blake brought her to a holding cell while telling her that this was mandatory. He had to question her about everything she knew about Bane. If she would cooperate they would offer her protection, they would keep her safe from Bane. "You cannot stop him" Penny had replied determined.

Another officer had cuffed her left hand to the table while she waited for Blake to return to her with a glass of water. Penny was completely exhausted from the running, she had not realized her stamina was so bad…

"Here you go" Blake said after he closed the door behind him and placed the glass on the table in front of Penny. Eagerly she drank the water and put the empty glass back on the table with a bang before raising her eyebrows. "I don't know anything" she simply stated. During her youth Penny had practiced lying a lot and now it was something that came natural to her.

"I find that hard to believe" Blake sat down in the chair opposite of her.

"I'm quite serious"

Blake furrowed his brows before asking her another question. "Do you know where Bane is right now?"

"Nope"

In fact she had an idea where he might could be. But something inside of her told her he was going to safe her and what scared her the most was the fact that she _wanted_ Bane to come and get her, even though he was in the possession of a nuclear bomb.

"What is he planning?"

"I don't know" Penny stressed. "I was just a hostage, he never told me anything"

"But you helped with the stock exchange. We have you on video."

"Yes, I did help him with that" Penny admitted. "But he still didn't tell me what he was doing. I was just supposed to extract something from the database, I don't know what exactly I had extracted because the download failed."

That was partly true. She still wasn't sure what exactly Bane was doing with the prints of Bruce Wayne.

"Where you romantically involved with him?" Blake raised his eyebrows while awaiting an answer.

"What?" Penny said indignantly. "No! Of course not! Why on earth would you think that?"

"You told me repeatedly he was coming back for you, you were quite determined or have you forgotten?"

"No, I didn't mean it like that" _I did mean it like that_. "It's just that we made a deal and I know he'll come back because he can't just abandon that."

And right then Penny realized she had told Blake too much.

"What deal are you talking about?" Blake leaned forward over the table. Penny's eyes widened. What was she supposed to say now? She couldn't reveal the fact that she has been hacking secret databases for years.

"Nothing particular. It's none of your concern" Penny said, trying to find a way to talk herself out of it.

"You just made this my concern. Tell me" Blake began to sound impatient and Penny could see him curling his hands into fists.

"He would help me if I'd help him" Penny blurted out. "Which I did so he is going to help me"

"Help you with what?"

"He told me he knew who my parents were. My real parents" Penny knew she could not tell any more than this, she had already said too much. "Could I please get another glass of water?"

Blake nodded before standing up and walking over towards the door. Before disappearing he looked at Penny one more time and said: "I hope Bane is coming to get you back. Because I know we will be prepared, and we will take him"

Blake's words didn't scare Penny in the slightest. She knew Bane could take on anyone, he was stronger and faster than all of the policemen in Gotham combined. Although she did began to doubt if he was coming at all, if he was going to risk it.

After a few seconds of Blake's departure, the door swung open again. Doubting it was Blake, Penny turned to see who it was. The dark and tall figure in the doorway was someone she had never ever expected to meet. It was _Batman_.

Penny's eyes widened upon the impressive sight of the Batman. He was as tall as Bane and to her he was even more terrifying, because she did not know what he was capable of.

"Can I help you?" Penny stumbled, not sure what to say.

Just like Bane's voice, Batman's voice also sent shivers down her spine. But unlike Bane's, his voice was more low and grumbly.

"You can" he said, moving closer to Penny to face her, his black cape sweeping behind him. Penny found there was something very graceful about him, something which the television could not capture when they had featured him. "I want you to take me to Bane."

"Does the police officer know you are here?" Penny asked, not sure if Batman was cooperating with him, if this was a trap or if he was working on his own.

"Not yet" Batman said.

"I can take you to him, but I cannot guarantee you will leave unharmed" Penny warned. _If Bane is not coming to me, I'm coming to him_.

"I understand" Batman nodded, before gesturing Penny should stand up to follow him. "I'll get us out of the building, when we are outside you have to guide me to Bane."

Slowly Penny rose from her chair, feeling every muscle in her ache. She waited for Batman to step in front of her to open the door. To her surprise he too moved very gracefully and quietly. In comparison to him and Bane, she was like a clumsy elephant.

As soft as she could, but not as soft as Batman had opened the door, Penny closed it behind her and followed Batman up the stairs. Who would have ever guessed she would be in the same room with Batman, let alone follow him? But then again she was also taken hostage by a terrorist, so nothing should come as a surprise nowadays.

The hallways were all empty and Penny couldn't help but wonder where they all were. "I distracted them" Batman answered simply. Penny frowned, how could he possible distract a whole police station? The end of the hallway revealed a stairs case leading which led downstairs to the main level. They descended it and quickly reached the backdoor of the station which led to a back alley.

Before they went outside, Batman stopped to face Penny. He had been walking rather quickly and she was struggling to keep up with him. "Be honest with me" he started. "Did Bane do this to you?" Obviously Batman meant her face.

Penny rolled her eyes and sighed. "Why does everybody keep thinking that? No he did not, he wouldn't hurt me. He is not as bad as you all think he is."

"He is threatening an entire city…" Batman said with his low, grumbly voice.

Okay, he was bad. Penny had to admit. But he had never harmed her, at least not physically.

"Let's just keep walking" Penny said, dodging Batman's gaze.

She stepped outside into the cold air and looked around, trying to locate where she was exactly. Luckily, Gotham had some very striking buildings that she would recognize anywhere she her location was determined quickly. "This way" she nodded before she started walking.

To be honest, she had no idea if Bane was actually where she thought he was. After work she always drank a drink at the bar before returning home and she overhead a couple of young guys talking about work in the sewers. "_But it's not exactly legal_" She had heard one say. The sewers where her only shot of finding him.

They walked for about fifteen minutes and Penny could tell Batman was getting annoyed with her slow pace. "Why do you want him anyway?" Penny asked when they were about halfway there, wondering why anyone would take on Bane voluntary. She doubted whether even Batman was strong enough to take him on, especially since he had been gone for eight years.

"To defend my city" Batman replied.

"Good luck with that" Penny mumbled. She wanted to protect her city from the bomb, but realized it was impossible. The bomb would go off whether she would help Bane or not, she was never going to stop him alone. She though about not going back to him, to just leave, but something inside her made her want to see him again.

They made a sharp left towards another back alley. They had moved out Gotham business district into the Narrows. Penny knew that this man hole in the ground was one of the many entrances to the sewers.

"He's in there" Penny pointed towards the entrance and slid the cover off.

Batman moved closer to the hole and examined it, even though there wasn't much to see because it was completely dark down there. Penny crossed her arms and waited for him to go in.

"After you" Batman stepped back, giving Penny some space.

"I'm not going in there. I know he is in the sewers, but where exactly in the sewers I don't know"

"You said you'd take me to Bane, so please, after you" Batman insisted again.

Penny rolled her eyes, realizing she didn't have another choice and looked down the hole again. "Do you have a flash light?" she asked, figuring Batman probably had something from his fancy belt.

He handed her a small tube. "Squeeze it." Penny did so and the tube lighted up. It surprised her how much light came off of it. She placed her feet on the first step down the sewers and kept descending, not looking down.

The stank wasn't too bad when she was down. It also didn't seem as filthy as she had expected. Batman was down a lot quicker than she had been and Penny started walking mindlessly. She knew she had to reach Bane eventually.

They didn't say anything to each other the entire walk. They didn't have much to talk about and honestly, Penny didn't want to warm up to someone if she knew he was probably going to die within the hour.

Penny knew they were getting closer. Sounds of machines and drills were starting to get louder. She could feel her heart pounding louder with each step she took, with each step she was closer to Bane.

Once she spotted a big room in the middle of the sewers, she knew this had to be it. He had to be here. Penny spotted the shadows of the men working in the sewers and the sounds of drills were everywhere. Quickly she spotted an entrance to the large area and she wondered why there wasn't anyone stopping them. Surely they would have been spotted by now?

"This is it" Penny said., stepping aside to allow Batman to step inside a large room first. The large room was actually multiple levels and men were working while others guarded the place, carrying heavy weapons. "Good luck" she told him sincerely.

Batman stepped through the door and immediately a gate separated him from her. Penny looked around her bewildered. What was happening? Why wasn't she allowed to go in there with him?

The gate made it hard for her to see what was going on. But when Batman called out Bane's name, she knew he was there. She just wanted to get one glimpse of him. She wanted to know if he ever was coming back for her.

"Let's not stand on ceremony here…" Bane answered. He stepped into the light and Penny gasped. He was wearing his bulletproof vest, looking as menacing as ever. "… Mr. Wayne"

_Wait_._ Bruce Wayne is Batman_? If Penny had taken a guess who Batman's identity was, she would never have guessed Bruce Wayne. The playboy billionaire didn't seem like someone who would take on the cape and cowl, but clearly she had been wrong.

Both Batman and Bane started moving towards each other and without a single word, Batman attacked Bane. Penny took in a breath, watching them helplessly. They obviously knew they were coming. Bane had been waiting for a moment to take out the Batman, who had been they only one to prevent Bane from bombing the city.

Batman punched Bane as hard a he could, but Bane didn't really seem to be impressed. "Peace has taken your strength. Victory has defeated you" he simply said, while holding Batman's fist to prevent him from launching another blow.

Bane fought back and let go of Batman's fist. Penny slid her fingers through the gate and repositioned herself so she could clearly see what was going on. After a few seconds it became clear that Bane was definitely a lot stronger than Batman was. This was more like child's play to him.

Bane allowed a couple of blows to his face, before kicking Batman, causing him to fall a level lower with Bane following him closely. Now they moved a level lower, it was hard for Penny to see what they were doing. She could only hear them fighting.

"Theatricality and deception, powerful agents to the uninitiated. But we are initiated. Aren't we Bruce?" Penny heard Bane say. _Initiated? What could that mean?_

Out of nowhere she felt a hand creeping up to her face, covering her mouth to prevent her from screaming. Immediately fear took over and flashbacks of Ben started coming to her.

"Shhh. It's me" The one holding her let go and Penny shot around to see who it was.

"You scared me" she said, breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry" Barsad smiled. "We knew you'd come back. However we did not expect that you would bring the Batman with you. Let's go this way."

Penny followed Barsad in the direction of which she and Batman had previously came from. "I was captured by the police. He broke me out under the condition that I would bring him to Bane"

"To be honest you surprised me. I didn't figure you would be able to find us, but Bane was convinced you would"

"I'm not as useless as I look!" Penny smiled.

They made another turn and took the stairs to the next level, passing Bane's armed-men. She had never seen any of them before and could only imagine how many men he had… And where did he get them all? Penny had rarely seen any mercenaries who where as devoted as they were.

Penny followed Barsad deeper and deeper into the tunnels. They had made a couple of turns which Penny tried to remember in case she ever wanted to get out of here, but she had already forgotten them. _Left, right, right, or left?_

When Barsad came to a halt it seemed that they had arrived at their destination. The sewer looked the same everywhere. Again they were in a large space, with water and again, armed men everywhere. She didn't know whether to feel safe or threatened by them. By judging the height they were about four levels up. Barsad had taken her to a little set off area, which was set up as an office, with a small make-shift bed right next it. This is had to be Bane's area.

"Wait for him here. He'll be here soon" Barsad said, before turning around.

"What will he do to the Batman?" Penny asked Barsad quickly before he left her behind.

"He will break him"

**Author's Note**: Okay, this took me a little longer than expected. I've been so insanely busy with school plus I had little to no ideas for the next few chapters. I intended this chapter to be longer, but I just couldn't think of anything more right now. I will try my best to put out the next chapter sooner. Enjoy reading and as always, please review! :)


	10. Chapter 10

Penny had sat down awkwardly on the bed, waiting for Bane to come to her. She could feel the eyes of the men surrounding her burning on her body, figuring they hadn't seen or touched a woman in a long time, Penny tried to ignore it.

"It took you long enough to find us, Penelope"

At the sound of his voice, Penny sprung up, feeling the butterflies in her stomach starting to flutter again.

"You left me behind" Penny confronted.

"I had no choice. They caught us off guard and I had to bring my men to safety"

"You mean, you had to bring yourself to safety?"

She could hear the low grumble of the men around her, responding to her harsh comment.

Bane moved closer to her and violently grabbed her wrist. Around her she could hear the men picking up their guns, ready to attack if necessary. Penny could feel his fingers tightening and she let out a soft gasp of pain.

"Did I not tell you not to speak with such a tone?" Bane eyes looked violent and menacing, but Penny ignored it. She knew the adrenaline from his fight with Batman was still rushing through his veins.

Not sure what to reply, Penny kept her mouth shut and waited for Bane to release his grip. Their eyes locked and slowly she could feel Bane removing his fingers from her wrist. The men around them did the same with their guns. It was as if Bane didn't even had to tell them what to do.

"Did they hurt you?" He asked softly, letting his hands fall next to his body.

Something inside her wanted Bane to touch her again, even if it hurt.

"No" she replied honestly. The officer had actually taken quite good care of her.

Bane unlocked his eyes from hers and turned around to face the men around him. "Leave us" he demanded. Without hesitation his men packed up and left , leaving only Penny and Bane in the enormous room.

"What did you do with the Batman?" Penny asked carefully.

"I have not killed him, if that was what you was wondering" Bane replied somewhat amusing.

Bane moved closer the Penny and she could feel her stomach starting to flutter. She had to contain herself for not touching his bare arms.

"You are hurt" Penny said, after taking a better look at his arms and noticing they had some damage from the fight.

"It is nothing" Bane replied .

"It's something" Penny snapped back. While waiting for Bane she had spotted a worn down first aid kit in the far right corner. Reaching for it, she nodded for Bane to sit down.

To her surprise Bane actually sat down and waited for Penny to do her thing. Softly she traced the wound which Batman had caused with her fingers. Luckily the wound was quite shallow and only needed some bandaging. When her fingers reached Bane's vest, Penny realized the wound continued beneath it. Avoiding eye contact with him, she said: "You have to remove your vest."

Bane moved his head and forced his eyes onto hers. "Please" Penny added, hoping that Bane would listen to her. He did. Penny was taken aback with surprise, both from the fact that he again listened, and from the fact that he was soon sitting in front of her, shirtless.

Slowly Bane removed his vest, only breaking eye contact to pull the vest over his head. He didn't speak a word, which made Penny somewhat nervous. She could feel her heart racing as she moved behind him on the bed to get a closer look of the wound. It ran even further down his back than she had anticipating. "It's pretty big" she mumbled more to herself than to Bane.

Firstly she softly patted on some disinfectant to help clean the wound. His skin felt hot under her fingers. She had always imagined Bane to feel cold, but she realized he wasn't cold like everyone thought he was. He did have a heart, he has to have one. If he didn't, why am I still alive? Why isn't he breaking my neck right now? Why is he letting me touch him?

Next she patted the wound dry with a ball of cotton. Penny knew she had to clean the wound in case it might get infected. Bane didn't flinch once while she cleaned him, although she doubted whether he would even feel this pain at all.

Lastly she covered the wound with some gauze and taped it off so it wouldn't fall off. Penny had taken her time, moving as slowly as she could. The moment felt so peaceful and she didn't want to disrupt it. Even though she was done, her fingers still lingered on his skin, not wanting to let go of him.

"Are you done?" Bane's menacing voice said, breaking the silence. Penny knew she enjoyed this maybe a little too much. She was confused of her feelings. From one side she knew this was wrong, deeply wrong. This was a terrorist for crying out loud. But on the other hand she could not deny that she was growing feelings for him, and they became stronger each and every day.

"Done" Penny repeated, before stepping off the bed to move into Bane's line of sight.

"Come closer, Penelope" Bane ordered and before Penny had even time to think, she was already standing closer to him. "I will be out of the country for a couple of days. Barsad will be here to take care of you…"

"… What?" Penny interrupted him. "Where are you going?" She had finally found him and she didn't want to let him go again.

"Let me finish" Bane's eyes pierced through hers. "There is some business I need to tend to. Nothing to worry about. Just do what Barsad tells you to do and stay out of trouble"

Without an another word Bane pushed himself off the bed and walked out of the huge room. Leaving Penny alone, again.

* * *

They did not move back to the farm. Barsad claimed it wasn't safe anymore and showed Penny her new room in the sewers. She had grown quite fond of the farm and she was sad to see it go. The one thing she missed most was the daylight streaming through the windows every day. Now, she only sat in the dark until Bane returned to her.

She tried to talk to Barsad as often as she could, but the only friend that she had also had work to do, especially since he was second-in-command. Her days pretty much existed of watching men come and go, men she had never seen before arrived and someone she had seen a couple of times before left in a body bag.

Penny noticed they had a lot more casualties lately. Maybe the police were finally acting up, finally defending Gotham. _Well they have to now the Batman is gone_. Penny didn't know what had happened to him and to be honest she didn't know if she even wanted to know, she could only imagine the horrors that were happening to him right now.

"Are you back already?" Penny had spotted Barsad entering the sewers a lot earlier than he normally would.

"Yes, I felt like calling it a day" he replied, putting his weapons aside. Penny leaned against the wall next to him, her eyes scanning over the weapons which she was never allowed to hold. She moved her eyes up until they met with Barsad, a soft smile covering his face. "You are bored, aren't you?"

"Out of my mind" Penny replied honestly. Back at the farm she had some books to entertain her, she had her trusty old laptop, but here she had nothing.

"To be honest, I don't know what to do with you" Barsad said, ascending the stairs a level higher up, followed closely by Penny. "Bane didn't leave me any set of instructions regarding you"

"_Instructions?" _Penny raised her eyebrows.

"No computer work needs to be done…" Barsad said thoughtful. "… and apart from that"

"I can do other stuff too, you know" Penny said. "I can hold a gun"

Barsad started laughing. "If I let you hold a gun Bane will kill me"

"I'm not saying you should give me a gun. I'm only saying that I can hold one. I can also drive cars, stand on lookout, hell I can ever answer phone calls if necessary. Just give me something to do!" Penny replied enthusiastically. This was her shot to get something to do except for watching people all day.

Barsad furrowed his eyebrows. "Okay, I might have something for you. But you have to promise me that you will listen to me and do not anything rash. _Promise_ me."

"I promise!" Penny replied quickly, happy that Barsad was giving her a chance.

* * *

The following day Penny woke up bright and early, ready for her first real mission. Last night , Barsad had explained everything she had to do in detail. She was to drive one of the getaway cars from the mission back to the sewers, as quick as possible. Luckily for her, there were multiple getaway cars so she only had to follow. What could possibly go wrong?

Barsad handed her a bulletproof vest, cargo pants and army boots, so she blended in with the rest. None of the clothes really fit her, but it was better than nothing. After sitting around doing nothing, she had to admit she was kind of excited about this mission. She felt like she was now part of something, she felt like she mattered.

The car was an old Chevy of about twenty years old. She had never driven a car like this, but Barsad convinced it was no different than any other car. "I personally made sure this car was in mint condition" he reassured her. Penny didn't know anything about cars, apart from how to drive them, so she trusted Barsad's word.

Barsad also drove with her, sitting next to her in the passenger seat, making sure nothing could go wrong. The car quickly filled up with as many men as the car could hold and soon after that they were off. Penny could feel her heart starting to pound and tried calming herself down. _Nothing can go wrong, Barsad is right beside me_.

The drive to the building went by quietly and quickly. Penny didn't know exactly what they were going to do inside, but she didn't mind. The fact that she didn't knew anything of the plan was for her own safety. "If we are not back within seven minutes, drive back to the sewers" Barsad ordered. Penny nodded and gripped the steering wheel tighter, ready to take off as soon as they returned.

All the men moved out of the car and disappeared into the building, leaving Penny alone. In front of her were three other getaway cars and another one behind her. She felt safer, being in the middle. After the first minute past Penny could feel her nerves kicking in. She kept on staring at her watch, watching how the minutes crept by slowly.

On the sixth minute the doors of the building swung open and Bane's men quickly moved back to the car. Nervousness now made it's way for adrenaline, this was the moment where everything could go horribly wrong.

Swiftly all the men moved back in the car. "Drive" Barsad commanded as he seated himself behind him. He barely had the chance to close the door as Penny started driving away immediately. The getaway route was simple and it was just a matter of following the rest carefully. The driver in front of her had upped the speed and they were now moving quickly out of sight. Penny hoped the police had not seen them.

But they had.

Out of nowhere bullets started soaring passed them, hitting objects all around them. "Shit" Barsad mumbled, turnig around to see where the gunshots were coming from. Penny quickly glanced at her rearview mirror, only to find that the car behind them had crashed. "Shit" she too mumbled.

The clean and quick getaway turned into a full blown chase. "I've lost them!" Penny yelled at Barsad once she realized the cars in front of her were now too gone. "Make a right" Barsad ordered.

Penny turned the steering wheel and made a sharp turn down a back alley. Sirens were still blaring behind them but the gun shots had stopped. "We have to lose them!" Penny didn't know how to react. This wasn't really how she had envisioned her first mission. This was all meant to go smoothly.

Trying not to get caught, Penny drove the car into various alleys. The men in the backseat were now hanging out of the window, firing their guns at the police in a desperate attempt to shake them off. They could not return to the sewers before they were absolutely sure they had lost them.

Barsad told Penny which way she should go and she did what she was told. They drove through all various parts of Gotham she had never seen before.

Suddenly the gunshots stopped and the sirens died down.

"Have we lost them?" Penny asked softly. She let her foot off the gas to let the car slow down.

"I'm not sure" Barsad replied, looking around him trying to spot anyone.

The car came to a complete halt. Penny looked around her and she couldn't see anyone. The alley was empty.

Out of nowhere a bullet soared through the windows of the old Chevy, instantly killing the man sitting right behind her. Penny let out a shriek of surprise and her immediate reaction was pressing the gas. They had to get out of here as fast as they could.

"SHIT!" Barsad now shouted. "Snipers!"

The men behind her tried to tend to their shot-down brother, but it was no use, the bullet went straight through his neck.

Penny made another left, a right, a u turn. She didn't even know where they were going, as long as it was away from the police.

However no sirens followed them and no bullets appeared in the next fifteen minutes. "Start heading east" Barsad ordered her. Penny turned the car around. It seemed as if they had lost them again, although they also thought that last time.

As they moved closer to the sewers no one seemed to be following them and nothing striking was to be seen.

Penny took in a deep breath. She realized that this was probably a very, very bad idea. _ If I'd just stayed at the sewers_. But it was too late to turn back, she couldn't undo what she had done. All she now could do was hope that Bane wouldn't find out that she put her life in danger, against his orders.

"We've lost them" Barsad confirmed. "Let's get inside, quickly"

* * *

"Where are you coming from?" Penny hadn't seen Bane when she had entered the sewers and she had bumped into him if he hadn't started speaking.

Penny didn't know what to reply. He had specifically told her to stay out of trouble and she hadn't listened. She avoided eye contact and started at the ground, waiting for Bane to speak again. Waiting for him to hit her because she disobeyed him.

Behind her she could hear the men who were with her in the car moving the body inside the building. From the corner of her eye could see Bane's hands curling up into a fist. She knew it was going to happen. Penny closed her eyes, anticipating Bane's fist that was about to collide with her head.

"Where is Barsad?"

Penny softly opened her eyes. No hitting? "I don't know" Penny said, her voice trembling slightly.

"I'm here, boss!" Barsad quickly moved to them, stopping right next to Penny. "Where did you go?" Bane asked him.

"We went on the mission, like you ordered me" Unlike Penny, Barsad looked his boss straight in the eye.

"And you took her?"

"Yes" Barsad replied honestly.

"And you thought that taking her was a good idea? Did you think I would approve?"

Barsad remained silent. Penny could sense Bane was getting very angry, but figured he would be angry with her, not with Barsad. After all it was her who suggested it.

"I'm very disappointed, Barsad" Bane continued. "This will not go unpunished…"

**Author's Note: Finally had some time to write another chapter. I hope you guys all like it and I suddenly remembered after a very observant reviewer pointed out that Penny had a knife. Let's just pretend that she lost it in the forest :'). Anyway enjoy and as always review!**


	11. Chapter 11

"No!" Penny exclaimed. She knew she was to blame, not Barsad.

Bane turned his head around to face Penny and raised his eyebrows. "What?" he asked her.

"Don't punish him. It's my fault, I wanted to go with him" Penny explained, rubbing her hands together nervously.

Barsad seemed speechless. Penny figured none of the men were used to someone standing up for them. She felt like she needed to stand up for him, if someone needed to be punished, it was her.

"Barsad should've known better" Bane spoke.

"He _did_ know better, but I kept on pushing him" Penny continued. "Eventually he gave in, but that was all my fault. I should've known better. You told me not to get into trouble, but I did…"

"You are not making this better for yourself"

"No, maybe not. But I'm making it better for Barsad" Penny turned her head to look at him. He was probably a lot smarter than her by keeping his mouth shut and just accepting his punishment.

Bane chuckled. "His punishment would be severe. Are you willing to take that on yourself?"

Penny doubted for a moment. She didn't know what Bane meant exactly with a 'severe punishment'. Would he really harm her?

"Yes" she finally said.

"Very well then. Barsad, leave us" Barsad's eyes met hers. He nodded gratefully but deep inside she could see that he was nervous and so was Penny. What was Bane going to do to her? Her face had hardly had the chance the heal, she hoped it wouldn't be made worse tonight.

Bane gestured that she were to follow him, which she did. Penny didn't want to give him any reasons to be even more angry with her. They ascended the stairs up to the level where her own room was situated and apparently also Bane's room.

It turned out that Bane's own room was only a short walk away from her own. He opened the door and waited for Penny to also enter. His room was exactly the same as hers had been, but after all they were in the sewers, you could not really expect any luxury.

"What were you thinking?" Bane snapped once he had closed the door behind him aggressively. His aggressiveness made Penny shudder, this time it was her who had caused this anger and not the Batman.

"It's just that… I was so bored. I wanted to do something" Penny replied honestly. There was no point about lying right now.

"You were bored?" Bane raised his eyebrows. "And you thought engaging on a dangerous mission was going to solve that problem?"

"Well.. It did solve it if you actually think about it" She had spoken the words before she even had time to think. Penny broke lose of his stare and moved her eyes to the concrete ground, knowing she shouldn't have said that.

"From now on you will only stay inside your rooms" Bane started. "You may only leave with my permission"

"What?" Penny exclaimed, moving her eyes from the concrete back to Bane's eyes. "I just wanted to help"

"You did not help, Penelope. You just made things worse"

Bane's words stung, but Penny tried to shake them off.

"Look, you have to understand that I feel useless now we're off the farm" Penny explicated. "I have nothing to hack or to decode, nothing to do around here. No one except Barsad paid any attention to me since you were gone. I wanted to feel like I was a part of something, I wanted to feel like I mattered."

Penny could see Bane thinking of what to say next. The fact that she made him a little bit speechless meant that she did something right, or something horribly wrong.

"You will matter, Penelope. You will matter once we need you again. You do not belong on the battlefield and I don't want you anywhere near that again."

"Why? Are you afraid I might die? I'm sure you could get another hacker who is far more capable and skilled than I am within three seconds" Penny snapped back. There was so much more to her than just a simple computer hacker. "And am I ever going to get my end of the deal? Or was that just a stupid lie?"

"You will get your end of the deal, once you are ready" Bane replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You didn't reply to my question"

Penny was surprised by her own feistiness, and by the looks of it, Bane was too.

"I did reply to your question"

"Are you afraid I might die?" Penny repeated slowly.

Before Bane had a chance to answer, the door slammed open, revealing Barsad in the opening. "There have been some complications. Daggett wants to see you" Barsad said, before disappearing again.

Bane turned back to Penny and moved closer to her. "If you are that desperate to prove yourself. This is the only chance I am going to give you"

* * *

Penny knew this was her one and only chance to prove herself. Messing this up would mean she was to be imprisoned in her room, and to be honest she wasn't planning on that.

The car stopped in front of a large office building in downtown Gotham. Before Penny got out of the car, Barsad told her to not fuck this up. Bane remained silent and just gave her a nod before she climbed out of the car.

The plan was simple. Get in, steal John Daggett's phone, get out. Barsad had come up with the plan, and Bane had agreed it was the best they had. Penny thought the plan was quite unconventional, but given this was her only shot, she agreed to do it.

Bane had spoken to Daggett earlier and it turned out he was quite upset about not getting the rights to Wayne Enterprises. Penny didn't know what it all exactly meant, but Bane suspected him of contacting other mercenaries behind his back. This was were Penny had to step in.

She was wearing a short black miniskirts with black tights. Her white blouse and red stilettos finished the look. She didn't know where they had gotten all these clothes from so quickly, but she had decided not to ask any questions. Bane had also given her a red colored wig, to protect her from getting identified as someone.

Knowing the bruises on her face would give her away, Penny had slapped on foundation like never before. A hot girl coming to one of Daggett's fancy parties wouldn't be so convincing with a bruised face.

It felt weird wearing these fancy clothes again. Penny had almost forgotten how it felt to look sexy and confident. Although she had to admit the skirt was _very_ short.

"Go straight to the desk and ask for Daggett's office" Bane told her through her earpiece. This way she could remain in contact with him while he could also give her any extra instructions if necessary.

"I got this" Penny replied softly, hoping no one saw her talking to thin air.

Her stilettos tapped against the beautiful white marble floor of the building. Trying not to look suspicious, Penny immediately walked to the front desk.

"I'm hear to see Mr. Daggett" she told the lady while casually leaning against the desk.

"Ah yes" The lady replied, typing something in the computer. "He'll be expecting you, he's at the top floor"

Penny flashed a smile. "Thanks" she said and turned to head over to the elevators, passing all kinds of business men in expensive suits. She paid them no attention and lifted her head high. Penny knew she had to act her way through it, luckily she had always been an excellent liar, so this wouldn't be too difficult for her.

"He's in the penthouse" Bane said.

"I _know_. The lady just told me" Penny replied annoyed. She knew she could do this, but apparently Bane doubted that.

Penny waited patiently for the elevator to come down. Fortunately it was empty, that gave her some time to go over how exactly she was going to portray this character. She heard Daggett often had parties and quite liked having women around him. The choice was easy.

Daggett was already waiting in front of the elevator when Penny entered. "I have been expecting you" he said cheesy. _He totally practiced that line…_

"Hello" Penny said, batting her eyelashes.

"Please come through, the party is in the back" Daggett softly pushed her towards the right direction by putting his hand on the small of her back. Carefully Penny put her one foot in front of the other as she walked, while swinging her hips.

They walked through the entrance of the penthouse right to the back of the living room. The place was furnished in a very modern way and Penny had to admit she quite liked it. Trying not to break character, Penny looked around her and noticed there were also several other girls. This made it a little bit more difficult. She had to get Daggett's attention and get him alone.

"Who are they?" Penny asked a tad arrogant.

"No one, you should worry about …." Daggett didn't seem to remember her name.

"Victoria" Penny answered, smiling slightly.

"Victoria, right. Well you are not threatened by them, are you?"

Penny narrowed her eyes, taking a sip of the glass of champagne that was just handed to her. "Of course not"

"Good" Daggett smiled. "Please, sit"

Penny sat down on the large suede couch, crossing her legs elegantly. She could feel the eyes of the other girls burning on her skin, but Penny figured this was a good thing. They were threatened by her.

"Get him alone" she heard Bane say in her earpiece. Penny sighed, but didn't dare to reply in a room full of people. She knew the plan, but Bane had to trust her and give her her time.

Daggett seemed to be quite amused with all the attention he was getting from the ladies present in the room. It was quite obvious that they were all here for his money as they were all basically throwing themselves at him.

Penny knew this was her time to strike. If she waited a little longer Daggett would leave with one of the others girls and she couldn't let that happen.

"John?" Penny asked sensually, placing her index finger on his shoulder to draw his attention. "Could we get a moment alone please?"

The other girls looked at her furiously, but Penny ignored it. If they wanted to be alone with him so bad, they should've acted more smartly.

"Yes, babe" Daggett said. Penny turned around and headed towards are door that leaded to a bedroom. _Perfect_.

"Don't do anything stupid, Penelope. Just get the phone" Bane said. _If he'd just shut up…_

"What did you want to talk about, Victoria?" Daggett asked once they were both in the room. Just like the living room, the bedroom was also furnished in a very modern way.

"I have no desire for talking" Penny said in her Victoria voice. The act was going better than she had even hoped.

A smile formed on Daggett's face. "Then what _is_ your desire?" he asked. Penny took a step forward to get closer to him, letting her body touch his.

"This" she said before she'd let her lips meet his. Penny knew this was the only way she could get his phone without him noticing.

Eagerly Daggett kissed her back and tried to take over by pushing her on the bed. "Not so fast, John" Penny said, breaking off the kiss. If she was positioned on the bed, it would be a lot harder to retrieve his phone.

She could feel Daggett's hand slide down her back onto her ass while his other one stayed at her neck. Penny wasn't enjoying this. She wasn't enjoying this at all, but she knew she had to do this in order to successfully complete this mission.

"What are you doing?" Bane said. Penny tried to ignore his voice, as this was the moment she desperately needed to stay in character.

Penny moved her head sideways to let her mouth meet his again. Figuring he had his phone in his pocket, Penny now also let her hands slid downwards. She hoped she could get the phone without him noticing, so she had to distract him a little more.

Slowly she opened her mouth while Daggett eagerly did the same, allowing their tongues to meet. _Stay in character. Try to act like you are enjoying this. Just act like he is Bane._ But Daggett was not Bane, far from it. Where Bane was strong and manly, Daggett was a little boy of twelve years old.

While still passionately kissing Daggett, Penny carefully reached in his pocket. A sigh of relief went through her body. The phone was there. She grabbed it with two fingers and slowly pulled the phone out. Daggett didn't seem to notice anything.

It was done. She didn't have to pretend to like him anymore. Penny quickly pulled herself loose from him. "That's all you are going to get today" she said, hiding the phone in the sleeve of her blouse.

"Was this all?" Daggett said indignantly. "This is not what I've paid you for"

"Too bad" Penny said, before quickly leaving to room to head to the elevator.

"You've made a mistake, Victoria! Your boss will hear about this" Daggett shouted from the bedroom.

_I'm pretty sure my boss has already heard about this_.

Luckily the elevator was already waiting for her and once she was inside Penny was finally able to be herself again. She smiled. _I did it. I knew I could do it._

Since she was alone she was finally able to contact Bane again. "I got the phone" she simply said, but she didn't get a response. "Bane?" she said once again. The elevator stopped on the ground floor and it was only moments before Penny would sat in the car again and she had proven she could do this.

"Penny?" a voice said.

_Fuck_.

Penny kept walking towards the door, hoping the person who just called her out meant somebody else.

"Penny!" the voice said again.

Penny couldn't ignore this and turned around to see who had recognized her.

"Katie?" Penny said in disbelief.

"Oh my god, it's really you! We all thought you were dead" Katie said, hugging Penny tightly.

Penny was startled, she knew Bane could see everything of this as the car was just parked outside the building.

"I'm not dead!" Penny smiled nervously. How did Katie even recognize her with this wig and these clothes?

"Well thank god! And did you do something different to your hair? We totally need to catch up over dinner, I haven't seen you in so long and you have to tell me everything you've been up to!" Katie rambled.

"Get rid of her" Bane said dryly in her earpiece.

Penny loved her friend and she really wanted to see her more often, but this simply wasn't possible. She wanted to find out who her parents were and this was not possible with Katie in the picture. "I have to go, I'm so sorry" Penny apologized, before turning around to walk out the building as quickly as she could.

Once outside Penny took in a deep breath of fresh air. She did not plan to see Katie again. Seeing her brought back so many memories and suddenly she began to doubt if this life she was living was what she wanted.

"Get back in the car, Penelope"

Penny took in another breath and opened the car door. Once seated she noticed that both Barsad and Bane were staring at her. Barsad was even smiling slightly. "I certainly didn't expect that" he said.

"What?" Penny asked. She thought her plan was quite logical. What other was she to do? Kill Daggett?

"Barsad, drive" Bane said, before turning to face Penny. "What have you done?"

"I got the phone like you asked me to" Penny handed Bane the phone.

"You made a mistake, Penelope" Bane said. She could clearly read the emotion in his eyes.

_Oh my god, was he jealous that I kissed Daggett?_ Penny couldn't believe what she was seeing.

**Author's Note: I'm quite happy with this chapter. I'm really enjoying writing this story again, but of course school has to be an ass and give me little to no free time. So I cannot promise when the next chapter will be up... Please enjoy this chapter and as always, review! Have a nice day!**


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